In his free time, whereas working as a clerk at a neighborhood Australian railway, James Harrison saved thousands and thousands of lives — along with his blood.
Harrison had notably particular plasma: It had a uncommon antibody that docs used to make a medicine for pregnant moms with totally different blood varieties from their newborns. When this occurs, it may result in the mom’s immune system attacking the still-developing pink blood cells of the fetus.
But it surely’s not just like the docs drew blood one time, discovered this particular antibody, and made a treatment that they might find yourself reusing. Harrison needed to hold donating his blood. Nearly 1,200 occasions.
He was petrified of needles, he needed to journey an hour every strategy to the lab, and nonetheless, he stored donating time and again, each two weeks or so. For 64 consecutive years, till he died in his sleep in March, having saved virtually 2.5 million infants in Australia.
However the motive he needed to do all this within the first place is as a result of scientists nonetheless don’t actually perceive blood.
Nicola Twilley, the host of Vox Media’s Gastropod podcast, wrote a bit for the New Yorker earlier this 12 months about blood and the scientists attempting to know the way it does what it does. On the most recent episode of the Unexplainable podcast, she spoke with host Noam Hassenfeld in regards to the quest for synthetic blood on the most recent. Take heed to their dialog beneath, or within the feed of your favourite podcast app.
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