Blood has been grown artificially in the lab from human embryonic stem cells. The research was done at Advanced Cell Technology, with researchers from the Mayo Clinic and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Up to 65% of the cells resulting from the process matured to the point where they shed their nucleus, taking on the distinctive doughnut shape of red blood cells.
The team still has plenty of work to do. One question: do the resulting cells have enough globin to carry oxygen? Also, human beings are remarkably efficient in producing cheap blood in quantity; fourteen million pints are used every year in transfusions.
Early next week (09/08/2008), American television audiences will get a taste of Tru Blood, a TV series based on the work of Charlaine Harris, set in a small Louisiana town. After Japanese synthetic blood hits the market, humans and vampires coexist for the first time. I'm sure you'll enjoy the following Tru Blood video.
(Tru Blood beverage video - this blood's for you)
Sink your teeth into these other artificial blood stories:
Prairie Madness - And Space Sickness
'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...' - Hugo Gernsback, 1911.
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Prairie Madness - And Space Sickness
'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
'Old People Began to Cross The Continent In Their Own Cars'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
Starfall Manufacturing Drugs In Space
'The vast spinning sphere of Factory in the Sky loomed above and ahead of us, gleaming white against the unfathomable jet depths of surrounding space.'
The Solar Oberth Slingshot
'And if it doesn’t work,' inquired Lazarus, 'what does that make us? Sunspots?'
'If Anyone Is Watching Earth...'
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'