On a classic episode of ID the Future, geneticist and biochemist Michael Denton reads the beautiful introduction to his book The Wonder of Water. Download the podcast or listen to it here.

He begins at Yosemite’s Bridalveil Fall and explores how water is curiously fine-tuned for life. Indeed, thanks to a unique cluster of properties, water is able to fulfill many roles essential to our living planet. It’s thanks to some of those properties that rivers and streams can leech and carry minerals from rock to various places they’re needed in the biosphere.

Water’s unusual properties also make it an ideal medium for our circulatory system. There it serves not only to transfer nutrients and oxygen but also to expel carbon dioxide, excess body heat, and waste products — again, thanks to a unique group of properties.

Photo: Bridalveil Fall, by Geosultan4, via Wikimedia Commons.