About the Baking Soda... Here's a link to the video I first saw about this:
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/398.html
Also, a while back I read an article about Russian scientists discovering that the "supposed Junk DNA" in our bodies actually reacts to human speech!
This concept would provide a "scientific explaination" as to how prayers and miracles work. (my thoughts anyway...)
Here's a link to the article, it's very interesting:
http://www.rense.com/general62/expl.htm