Artificial Blood

(SFX: ambulance and emt talk, "get 2 pints blood")

     BLOOD IS OFTEN ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS NEEDED IN A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. 
SINCE BLOOD KEEPS YOUR CELLS ALIVE BY BRINGING THEM OXYGEN, A PATIENT
COULD DIE SIMPLY FROM HEAVY BLEEDING. BUT GETTING A PATIENT EXTRA BLOOD
ISN'T SO EASY. FIRST, IT REQUIRES LOTS OF VOLUNTEER BLOOD DONORS.  SECOND,
DIFFERENT PEOPLE HAVE DIFFERENT TYPES OF BLOOD, AND YOU CAN'T JUST MIX AND
MATCH THEM.  PHYSICIST GERALD POLLACK AT MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY SAYS
MEDICS WISH FOR AN ARTIFICIAL BLOOD SUBSTITUTE--SOMETHING TO USE IN
EMERGENCY TRANSFUSIONS, WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT DONORS, OR BLOOD TYPE.

     Pollack: "People have been trying to find a blood substitute since the 17th centurey since they first
discovered that blood flows, and some of the things they tried was wine, because wind  ie red and blood is
red.  but none of those things worked." (#291;Xs)  
     SEVERAL CENTURIES LATER, SCIENTISTS ARE STILL TRYING TO COME UP WITH
SOMETHING THAT CAN CARRY OXYGEN FROM THE AIR YOU BREATHE TO YOUR CELLS.
ONE POSSIBILITY WOULD BE TO RECREATE BLOOD IN THE LAB AS CLOSELY AS
POSSIBLE,  BUT IF IT'S MATCHED TOO CLOSELY THEN YOU RUN INTO BLOOD TYPE
PROBLEMS AGAIN, AND IF IT'S NOT MATCHED CLOSELY ENOUGH, THE BODY REJECTS IT. 
SO POLLACK THINKS MAYBE WE SHOULD TRY A SIMPLER APPROACH BASED ON THE OF
PHYSICS.  HE THINGS WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIND A FLUID THAT DOESN'T HAVE TO
LOOK MUCH LIKE BLOOD AT ALL, SO LONG AS IT HAS ONE IMPORTANT PROPERTY: IT
MUST BE ABLE TO CARRY OXYGEN.  IN OTHER WORDS, OXYGEN HAS TO DISSOLVE
WELL IN THE FLUID.

     Pollack: "What we'd like to . . . find is a material in which oxygen is more soluble than what we
have now.  the physcal and chemical prinicpiles which determine solubility, those are understood, you just
have to do more research with it."

     POLLACK HAS LONG STUDIED HOW FASES LIKE OXYGEN MIX IN WITH FLUIDS. 
WE'VE ALL SEEN CARBON DIOXIDE DISSOLVED INTO A SODA DRINK, SO YOU KNOW IT
CAN BE DONE. . . IT'S JUST A QUESTION OF FINDING A FLUID THAT WORKS WELL WITH
OXYGEN, AND OF COURSE, IS SAGE TO PUT IN YOUR BLOOD STREAM.  THIS IS JUST ONE
APPROACH TOWRADS FINDING A UNIVERSAL BLOOD SUBSTITUTE, BUT SCIENTISTS ARE
HOPEFUL WE SHOULD HAVE ONE SOON.