Plastic blood?

BBC News has in interesting report on a potentially cool new product, artificial "plastic" blood that can be used as a substitute for the real thing in emergencies.

Researchers at Sheffield University said their creation could be a huge advantage in war zones.

They say that the artificial blood is light to carry, does not need to be kept cool and can be kept for longer.

The new blood is made up of plastic molecules that have an iron atom at their core, like haemoglobin, that can carry oxygen through the body.

The scientists said the artificial blood could be cheap to produce and they were looking for extra funding to develop a final prototype that would be suitable for biological testing.

The brief story says the new plastic blood will be part of the London Science Museum's new exhibit, "Plasticity – 100 years of making plastics," which opens on May 22.