Preposterous Polywater

In the 1960s, Soviet scientists claimed to have discovered a form of water that was polymerized and remained solid from −40 °C to 150 °C.  These claims set off a kind of panic among American officials and scientists.  If such a substance existed and the USSR managed to use it as a weapon to render US water stores useless, the repercussions would have been catastrophic! After a frenzy of research in both countries trying to recreate and test polywater, it became clear that the substance was fictitious. The sample the soviets had was in fact simply impurities in the water sample used. 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywater
http://itotd.com/articles/588/polywater/