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If you’ve ever thought to yourself “Man, I would love to try my hand at painting, but paint is way too expensive” then guess what-your body is full of a fluid that works just as well but will cost you nothing!
I’m talking about blood, and although it may seem strange to paint with the stuff, it is definitely one of the less disgusting bodily fluids artists have decided to use in their works. Artist Vinicius Quesada knows the value of a pint of vital fluid, and you can see more of his sanguis works at the link below.
It's
not quite as fantastic as shrinking people in a submarine into someone's
bloodstream like in Fantastic Voyage, but it's very neat nonetheless.
Penn State University scientists have created self-propelling micromachines using spheres less than a micrometer wide:
Ayusman Sen of Pennsylvania State University in University Park and his colleagues have created the self-propelling microspiders using spheres less than a micrometre wide. Each sphere is made up of two halves – one hemisphere is gold, the other silica – and looks like a gold-and-silver Christmas bauble.
To turn the spheres into motors, the group attached a Grubbs catalyst – a molecule that builds long chains of smaller molecules – to the silica side. When Sen drops his spheres into a solvent containing the chemical norbornene, the catalyst spins a polymer from molecules of the chemical. Eventually there are far more unpolymerised single molecules of norbornene around the gold side of the sphere than the silica side , creating an osmotic gradient, as fluids will always move from a region with lots of particles to a region with fewer particles. The solvent rushes toward the gold side of the sphere, causing the whole sphere to move.
Sen's group were able to control the direction of the spheres' movement by placing lumps of gel soaked in norbornene at one corner of the tank of solvent. The thread-spinning spheres followed the trail of leached norbornene towards the gels.
Link - via Popular Science
Can
this be the scientific basis for vampires staying young forever? Researchers
at Stanford studying the effect of the age of blood donors have discovered
something quite interesting (in mice, anyhow):
Link (Photo: Rama/Wikimedia)Researchers at Stanford University just published a study in Nature that may give new hope to those looking to stop the effects of aging on the brain. The study found that when blood from a young mouse was injected into an older mouse, that older mouse enjoyed what could almost be termed a "rejuvenation effect": it began producing more neurons, firing more activity across synapses, and even suffered less inflammation.
Interestingly, performing the reverse, in which a young mouse was injected with blood (or, more accurately, plasma, which is the parts of blood without blood cells), resulted in young mice with distinctly elderly attributes--increased inflammation, a reduction in the production of new neurons, that kind of thing.
What do you give a 200-lb lean, mean killing machine to keep ‘em cool and happy during a hot day? A lollipop … made of blood!
That’s what the keepers at the London Zoo gave their tigers to help keep them cool: Link
I think everyone should be generous and help one another as much as possible. To that extent, I’ve always been a big supporter of blood donation. Unfortunately, I’ve found out the hard way that I am one of the handful of people that has adverse reactions to donations and I almost pass out afterward and I find myself weakened for the next few days. Since I can’t donate, I figure I can help motivate the rest of you to help out your fellow man by giving you all the information you’ve ever wanted to know about blood donation.
Image via cbmd [Flickr]
Human blood is made of four main components, plasma, platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells. The 55% of blood is just plasma, which is mostly water, but also contains proteins, immunoglobulins, vitamins and other substances. Blood makes up 7% of your body weight.
All animals have varying numbers of blood types. Cows have a whopping 800 types of blood. Humans have four blood types, A, B, AB, and O and these can be further identified by their RH positive or negative status. Over 70% of Americans are either type O+ or A+.
While you probably already know that type O is the universal donor for red blood cells, most people are unaware that plasma transfusions are the exact opposite and people with type AB blood are universal plasma donors.
Image via Spike55151 [Flickr]
When you donate blood, you generally give around one pint of whole blood per donation, which makes up anywhere from a tenth to a twelfth of your body’s total blood. This is why some people (myself included) feel weak after donation, but most people are fine after blood withdrawal. Most people feel fine within a few hours, but it still takes your body up to three days to replace the donated plasma and up to 59 days for you to recover your red blood cells. That’s why you can only donate every few months.
While most people donate whole blood, there is another option called Apheresis. When you donate just plasma and platelets, this method is used for withdrawal. Basically, your blood is removed from your arm and then passed through a machine that separates out the contents of your blood. The parts of your blood that are being donated are kept separate and the rest of your blood is returned into your body. In most cases, the red blood cells are returned since these take the longest to regenerate. That’s why platelet and plasma donors can donate every three days. While it takes up to ten units of whole blood to make up one whole dose of platelets for a patient, this method can collect at least one whole dose of platelets with each donation.
While blood can be directly transfused from the donor into the patient, this method was largely phased out after WWII and blood donations are usually stored these days. Red blood cells can be stored for up to 42 days and plasma can be stored for a full year. Unfortunately, platelets can only be kept for about a week.
Image via Nemo’s Great Uncle [Flickr]
Blood banks are always looking to get more supply, and there are a number of reasons for this. First, a lot of people need blood. In fact, it is estimated that someone in the U.S. needs a transfusion every two seconds and that one in four Americans will need a transfusion at some point in their life. Secondly, because the majority of blood components have short shelf lives, even if there are enough donations to cover immediate needs, banks ideally want to have enough around in case of a national or local emergency. Lastly, restrictions on blood donors mean that only 38% of all Americans can donate blood at any given time, but only 10% of the population donates blood every year.
Image via ec-jpr [Flickr]
There are a lot of factors to determine someone’s eligibility to donate blood, including age, health, weight, visits to foreign countries, drug use, sexual history and recent body modifications. Donors may pass the pr-escreening tests and still be found ineligible when their blood is tested prior to transfusion. Some people who are deferred are only asked to wait a while before they attempt to donate, while others are told they can never donate. Most people who are deferred can return after a while and the number one reason for deferments is anemia.
The fact that men who have ever had sex with another man are banned from donating for life is a touchy subject in the blood donation world and there are valid arguments on each side of the discussion. Critics of the ban say the decision is based on outdated science and homophobia. They say that because each sample is tested for HIV, the risk is minimal. In 2006, the AABB, the Red Cross and America’s Blood Centers all pushed for a change in the policy, citing a study that suggested that allowing men who have had sex with another man to donate would only result in an additional case of HIV transmission once ever 33 years. They argue that because blood banks are in such desperate need of donations, this risk is worth it. The FDA rejected their proposal, saying the risk was not justified.
Those in favor of the ban point out that a study performed in the UK showed that allowing these men to donate would increase the risk of HIV entering the blood stockpiles by 500% and they argue that even if the ban is modeled to only prevent men who have engaged in homosexual activities in the last twelve months, the number would still increase 60%.
Critics argue that a gay man in a monogamous relationship carries a much lower risk of HIV than an intravenous drug user who has been clean for a year or a promiscuous straight man, both of who would be eligible to donate. The debate seems likely to continue for years, even if the ban is changed.
Image via acroamatic [Flickr]
If you’ve ever donated blood, you’ll notice that one of the inquiries involves lengthy stays in certain third world countries and the UK. If you ever wondered why the UK would be included in the list, it has to do with an untreatable degenerative brain disease known as Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. It can be passed by blood and the UK has had such a problem with it that they ban recipients of their own country’s blood donations from donating blood.
Unfortunately, while verbal tests are performed prior to blood donations in all countries, many third-world countries can’t afford to actually test the blood for diseases such as HIV, syphilis and other dangerous illnesses after it is donated. That is why anyone who has received transplants in these countries cannot donate in the U.S. and many other countries.
Image via Christiana Care [Flickr]
If you’re one of those people that always wants to know how something will benefit them, there are a few reasons you should donate blood other than the fact that each donation can save up to three lives. First off, some businesses, including all companies in Italy, give you a paid day off for blood donation. Next, the blood centers will often guarantee you transfusion priorities if you are ever in need of blood. If you need something physical to motivate you though, keep in mind that many blood drives include prize drawings for really cool stuff (the Comic Con blood draw contest is awesome) and blood centers often give away free goodies and food.
If you know you can pass the screening test and that you have clean blood, please donate blood and help save lives.
Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, WHO, New York Times, Web MD, Rue the Day
You rarely see candy cigarettes for sale anymore because someone got the idea that it’s not a good idea to give children candy that resembles something they should never, ever ingest. Therefore, I think it would be best to reserve these biohazard candies for adults only. Andrea Newberry was inspired by the TV show Dexter to adapt a lollipop recipe into edible medical slides containing blood samples! Yes, these are homemade, and she has complete instructions for making them at Forkable. Link -via Rue the Day
When artists talk about period piece, they usually mean work set in a particular era. But when Hawaii-based artist Lani Beloso titled her art series The Period Piece, she was being very literal:
As a long sufferer of dysmenorrhea, the artist often remarked that it was astonishing that she did not bleed to death each month. Curious to the amount of blood that actually came out of her, she set out to sit over a canvas for the entire period. The first piece in the series is that first attempt in which she sat over a canvas for 12 hours. Now, she collects the entire product and then utilizes it within each piece. Each piece reflects the mood, location, feeling and setting of each ones creation.
Previously on Neatorama: Artist Turned Menstruating Lungs Into Art
A new study suggests that ethnic Tibetans have certain evolutionary advantages that help them survive at higher altitudes. Among other traits, they have lower hemoglobin levels than non-Tibetans. This is a significant advantage when living at higher altitudes:
“Usually, if you or I or any nonadapted person went to high altitude, we would increase our hemoglobin levels to compensate for the low amount of oxygen.”
But high hemoglobin levels have been linked to complications such as hypertension and chronic mountain sickness, Simonson said.
These negative effects could have led to a genetic mutation among Tibetans that “prevented them from making as much” hemoglobin, she noted.[...]
Several variants of genes associated with high-altitude living, such as those that process oxygen, were found in Tibetans but not in their low-living neighbors. That includes the two genes that are strongly associated with low hemoglobin production.
Tibetans also tend to have wider blood vessels and take more breaths per minute.
Link | Photo: Lynn Johnson, National Geographic
UPDATE: If you’re curious about the identity of the rifle held by the Tibetan man in the picture, James Rummel is holding a discussion on it.
Medical researchers have developed artificial blood cells by layering proteins into a molded shell and then dissolving away the mold, leaving functional blood cells 7 microns wide. They hope that these cells can be used to deliver pharmaceuticals more effectively than ever before. In the magazine Discover, Andrew Moseman writes:
To make red blood cells in the lab, study leader Samir Mitragotri and colleagues started with spheres of biodegradable polymer. They then exposed the spheres to isopropanol, which collapsed them into the discoid shape characteristic of red blood cells. The researchers then layered proteins — either albumin or hemoglobin — onto the doughnut-shaped disks, cross-linked the proteins to give them extra strength and stability, and finally dissolved away the PLGA template to leave only a strong but flexible shell [The Scientist].
Mitragotri’s creations are about 7 microns across—the same diameter as real red bloods cells—and they have the same disc-like shape as their real-world counterparts. They act like real cells, too, he says. “The soft protein shell makes them squishy and elastic,” says Mitragotri. “They can squeeze through capillaries smaller than their own diameter, just like real blood cells” [New Scientist]. And perhaps most impressively, they can carry substances like the real thing does. Mitragotri’s team of researchers experimented with hemoglobin and the anti-blood clotting drug heparin; the synthetic cells could soak up either one and release it later.
Link via io9 | Image: Nishit Doshi
Police found a leech at the scene of a robbery in Tasmania eight years ago. They took a sample of the blood the leech had consumed. In 2008, Peter Alec Cannon was arrested on an unrelated drug charge. The DNA from his blood matched the blood from the leech!
Cannon would probably have got away with the crime had he not been charged with drug offences late last year, and asked to give a DNA sample – which matched that from the crime scene.
Detective Inspector Mick Johnston, who was involved in the police investigation from the start, said Cannon’s conviction validated the use of DNA technology.
“It’s a testament to DNA evidence and the legislation that allows us to keep such evidence in relation to unsolved crimes – this is a fantastic result,” he said.
Link -via Boing Boing
(image credit: BBC)
The Blood Lamp only works once, and you need to add of a drop of your blood to activate it! The idea is to stop and think about how badly you need light before you use it. Designer Mike Thompson created the lamp in order to draw attention to how much energy we waste. Link -via Dark Roasted Blend
Calm down, it’s not actually blood. It’s just an energy drink made to look like blood, and it’s served in an IV bag:
The fruit punch flavor packs 4 hours of energy along with iron, protein, and electrolytes. Not only does Blood Energy Potion have a similar nutritional makeup to real blood, but it has the same color, look, and consistency of blood. Get real blood nutrients without that real blood taste! The re-sealable transfusion bag style pouch provides the convenient delivery of fluids for vampires and humans alike! Contains no real blood, just synthetic!
See? There’s nothing at all abnormal about this product.
Link via Nerd Approved
Al Fischer, an 75-year-old New York man has reached a very commendable milestone: he has donated 40 gallons of blood over 58 years!
The print shop operator from Massapequa, affectionately known as Albee, has been donating blood every year since 1951, when Harry S. Truman was in the White House – 11 presidents ago.
So far, Fischer has given 319 pints of blood and he will do it again Tuesday in Woodbury, bringing his lifetime donation to a total of 40 gallons.
"I’m too cheap to give money, so I give blood," Fischer, 75, said jokingly.
Fischer is estimated to have helped almost 1,000 people who needed blood transfusion. Newsday has the story: Link (Photo: Howard Schnapp)
The armoured ground cricket of southern Africa are fat and flightless, two things that make them prime targets in the food-scarce African landscape.
Predation should’ve killed off these crickets, but evolution has equipped them with an amazing arsenal of self defense mechanisms, including vomiting and squirting blood in every direction.
Entomologist Bill Bateman of the University of Pretoria said:
“If [the attack] is from above the blood wells out and coats your hand. If grabbed by forceps from the side, by a leg, they lean towards it and crouch down, then there is a slight cracking sound and the blood jets right along the line of attack.”
“The blood is pale green and rather acrid smelling. I couldn’t bring myself to actually taste it fresh but it leaves an acidy, tobacco-like taste on your fingers if you do not wash it off,” he says.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by coconutnut.
Paleontologist Mary Schweitzer of North Carolina State University and colleagues apparently have never watched Jurassic Park. Why else would she extract dino "blood" from ancient bones?
A dinosaur bone buried for 80 million years has yielded a mix of proteins and microstructures resembling cells. The finding is important because it should resolve doubts about a previous report that also claimed to have extracted dino tissue from fossils.
… Schweitzer took a look at the pristine leg bone of a plant-eating hadrosaur that had been encased in sandstone for 80 million years. She and colleagues exhaustively tested the sample, sequencing the proteins they found with a new and better mass spectrometer and sending samples to two other labs for verification.
Now they report recovering not just collagen – which conveys little evolutionary information because it is the same in almost all animals – but also haemoglobin, elastin and laminin, as well as cell-like structures resembling blood and bone cells. The proteins should reveal more about dinosaur evolution because they vary much more between species.
This can’t possibly end well: Link
Medical researchers went to Mount Everest and took samples of their own blood while near the peak. What they found was shocking!
An average person at sea level has about 13-14 kilopascals (kPa) of oxygen in their bloodstream, University College of London medical researcher Dan Martin says. When his intensive care patients drop to around 8 kPa he gets very worried, and a normal person with 6 kPa of oxygen faces almost certain death. Imagine his shock, then, when he and three colleagues on the top of Mount Everest measured their own blood oxygen level to be between 2.5 and 4 kPa, the lowest ever measured in live people.
Martin and his colleagues -all experienced climbers- also took muscle biopsies while on the mountain. They hope their findings may lead to knowledge that will help patients in intensive care, where sudden oxygen drops can lead to death. Link -via Digg
(image credit: Pavel Novak)
If you’re sick of all the cute, sweet plushies out there, then these great toys are for you. They’re by artist Patricia Waller who has a ton of other awesome designs as well. These specific toys belong to her “Accident” series and the “How to kill your first love” series. I love the teddy bear myself.
A modified cell phone could allow doctors to analyze blood samples for HIV, malaria, and other diseases in remote villages where costly lab equipment and the power to run them are unavailable! The device is called a LUCAS imager (Lensfree Ultrawide-field Cell-monitoring Array platform based on Shadow imaging).
UCLA researcher Dr. Aydogan Ozcan images thousands of blood cells instantly by placing them on an off-the-shelf camera sensor and lighting them with a filtered-light source (coherent light, for you science buffs). The filtered light exposes distinctive qualities of the cells, which are then interpreted by Ozcan’s custom software. By analyzing the cell types present in a much larger sample, a more accurate diagnosis can be made in a matter of minutes. No more sending blood away to a lab and waiting days or weeks for the results.
Ozcan is seeking a manufacture so these devices can be mass-produced. Link -Thanks, Dave Bullock!
That’s Kokoron-chan, a Japanese mascot to inspire people to donate blood. Leave it to the Japanese to spice up a blood donation drive with a cute (and bloodthirsty) mascot that looks a lot like the Kool-Aid Man.
Pink Tentacle has more of Japan’s blood mascots: Link
