I hate needles. I don’t exactly know why, they just freak me out. Anyway, no matter how strongly Canadian Blood Services believes that it’s in me to give, it ain’t gonna happen. And maybe in the future, they won’t even have to ask.
Normally I don’t read much about war, but a new article on Wired called “Army Wages War on Modern Menaces” caught my eye. Basically it is a roundup of a number of emerging technologies being developed for use by the U.S. Army. One such technology is a “temporary blood replacement”:
The magic ingredient comes in a tiny bottle, which is filled with small bubbles just 2 microns across. The bubbles in this dodecafluoropentane emulsion swell to double size when they get in the lungs. Once they flow to the rest of the body, the bubbles distribute oxygen more efficiently than normal red blood cells. Forty cubic centimeters — just 8 teaspoons — would be as good at delivering oxygen as all of the blood flowing inside a person.
Sounds pretty intense right? This is the quote that did it for me, however:
“We’ve taken mice, drained out all of their blood, and replaced it with a saline solution and this,” Col. Bob Vandre, of the Army’s Medical Research and Materiel Command said. “They walk around like nothing’s happened.”
Of course, the bubbles lose their fizz after about a half hour and then the mouse needs it’s blood back, but still. Think of the possibilities! What if someone found a way to kill HIV without harming blood cells? You could take all the blood out of the person, clean it, and put it back! Or what if they figured out a way to make the bubbles last forever?
Read: Wired
MasterMaq's Blog 
that would be such ownage, although, draining ALL the blood out of the human body…like you’d have to take it out of all the organs too in order to make sure you got every last bit of HIV out right? But wouldn’t the HIV virus live in cells and whatnot? I mean, I’m no immunologist and I don’t know much about the circulatory system!
BUT in any case, still a VERY fascinating and hopefully a soon-to-be groundbreaking discovery!
Yeah exactly, interesting to see where it goes!
Needles aren’t all bad. And let’s not forget that relying excessively on technology will one day spell trouble. so maybe we should donate blood the normal way… 😛
yes, relying on technology excessively is bad, however, in a way, we’ve already relied on technology too much…
I’m on a laptop computer, eating supper that I warmed up with a microwave, with a lamp lighting my path, looking at my cell phone blink…
I’d say it’s a little too late for that.
LOL good call Inge!
Inge, you were also conceived via in vitro fertilization.
dickson, it’s not in vitro unless he’s put in a petri dish. it’s just that they needed a microscope to see if you could impregnate someone.
I have discovered the secret. If I post about things that you guys can’t use to make fun of each other with, you won’t comment.
LOL
haha the truth behind comment whoring in blogs has come to a head lolz
no no, it’s not a microscope, in fact, there’s now ONE more thing they can see from space with the naked eye…
mack, we’ll find a way. or we’ll make fun of you. one or the other.