May Nyman, a chemistry professor at Oregon State University, told Live Science that the whole idea of "water memory" doesn't make sense.

"I don't believe in water memory, because water molecules move. They're constantly rotating with respect to each other, forming hydrogen bonds, breaking hydrogen bonds," Nyman said. In other words, there's no structure in a solution of liquid water permanent enough to account for any long-term memory, she said.

"Introducing ions [electrically charged particles] certainly can change the pattern of bonds," Nyman added. "But the further out you get from a single ion in the solution, the more muted the effect. Just a few layers of water, and the water molecules further away will ignore that ion."