[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":328},["ShallowReactive",2],{"slug-artificial-blood-unsolvable-biological-puzzle-or-soon-to-be-reality":3},{"post":4,"relatedPosts":185,"relatedBooks":327},{"id":5,"date":6,"date_gmt":7,"guid":8,"modified":10,"modified_gmt":11,"slug":12,"status":13,"type":14,"link":15,"title":16,"content":18,"excerpt":21,"author":23,"featured_media":24,"comment_status":25,"ping_status":25,"sticky":26,"template":27,"format":28,"meta":29,"categories":30,"tags":33,"project_category":45,"contact_email_category":46,"yst_prominent_words":47,"class_list":57,"better_featured_image":77,"acf":121,"yoast_meta":129,"_links":132},25199,"2019-10-26T11:53:23","2019-10-26T09:53:23",{"rendered":9},"https:\u002F\u002Fmedicalfuturist.com\u002F?post_id=25199&_wpnonce=3ec5bce88c&status=auto-draft&type=post","2023-03-28T17:32:36","2023-03-28T15:32:36","artificial-blood-unsolvable-biological-puzzle-or-soon-to-be-reality","publish","post","https:\u002F\u002Fmedicalfuturist.com\u002Fartificial-blood-unsolvable-biological-puzzle-or-soon-to-be-reality",{"rendered":17},"Artificial Blood: Unsolvable Biological Puzzle Or Soon-To-Be Reality?",{"rendered":19,"protected":20},"\n\u003Ctable style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #eee; border-top: 4px solid #444;\" cellpadding=\"5px\">\n\u003Ctbody>\n\u003Ctr>\n\u003Ctd style=\"width: 100%;\">\n\u003Cp style=\"color: #555;font-size: 12px;line-height: 14px\">THIS ARTICLE HAS NOT BEEN UPDATED SINCE 2019. THE INFORMATION SHARED IN THE ARTICLE WAS ACCURATE AT THE TIME OF ITS PUBLICATION, BUT IT MAY BE OUT OF DATE NOW. \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmedicalfuturist.com\u002Fmagazine\">BROWSE OUR LATEST ARTICLES HERE\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Ftd> \u003C\u002Ftr>\u003C\u002Ftbody>\u003C\u002Ftable>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>What\nis the common denominator for milk, lamb blood, urine, and beer? You would\nnever guess, so we let you off the hook: they were all tried as substitutes for\nblood during experiments on the quest to find an alternative fluid to replace\nthe elixir of life: human blood. Despite the tremendous efforts, though,\nartificial blood remains an unsolvable biological puzzle with only a few\ninnovative solutions that give hope that one day it will become a reality. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003Cstrong>An entire bloody business in vein?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Blood\nhas been the symbol of life for millennia – as it is connected so vehemently to\ngood health and well-being. People noticed very early on that blood loss is\nconnected to death. No wonder that in folk tales vampires tried to suck out\nblood from the living – to somehow continue their life after death. Being one\nof the most widely and easily available – you prick your finger, and there it\nis, voilá! – materials as well as one of the most complex ones, blood has been\npart of the collective imagination as magical, life-giving fluid and as a basic\nmaterial for healthcare for centuries. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Medical evidence suggests that \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fbooks.google.hu\u002Fbooks?id=ZWJlqIWRjiEC&pg=PA81&lpg=PA81&dq=inca+blood+transfusions&source=bl&ots=L72VJ-rn_m&sig=ACfU3U2HWXJMDXA-sw5oIumrrFxuPp8THw&hl=hu&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwic7MPl6LflAhVN-aQKHfnfCdM4ChDoATAAegQICRAB#v=onepage&q=inca%20blood%20transfusions&f=false\">the Incas of Peru performed blood transfusions\u003C\u002Fa> already 500 years ago (later turned out that the majority of people in the South American tribe had blood type O that’s why these experiments were successful), although Western medicine only started to experiment with the life-giving elixir after \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.scientificamerican.com\u002Farticle\u002Fhow-do-scientists-make-ar\u002F\">William Harvey first described the circulation of blood in 1616\u003C\u002Fa>. Up until that point, it only made sense for medieval doctors to get rid of “bad blood” – in the form of bloodletting – to restore the balance of fluids in the human body according to \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fexploringyourmind.com\u002Fhippocrates-theory-four-humors\u002F\">the generally accepted theory of Hippocrates about the four humour\u003C\u002Fa>s. \u003Cstrong>Soon after the discovery of Harvey, all kinds of weird experiments started to unfold to see whether blood could be replaced by – \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002Fpmc\u002Farticles\u002FPMC2738310\u002F\">milk, urine, beer, sheep’s blood, saline solutions, or even plant resins\u003C\u002Fa>. They thought that by doing so, diseases might be cured or entire personalities could be changed.\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Unfortunately, the majority of these experiments where medical professionals or charlatans tried to inject another fluid into the veins of unwitting patients ended up in disasters.\u003C\u002Fstrong> After the first successful blood transfusions in 1667, \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fdeputyprimeminister.gov.mt\u002Fen\u002Fnbts\u002FPages\u002FAbout-Blood\u002FHistory-of-Blood.aspx\">the practice was still banned soon afterwards as patients inoculated with sheep or lamb blood died one after the other\u003C\u002Fa>. For 150 years, the practice of blood transfusions and the search for an alternative bodily fluid was halted – for the better.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"363\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Transfusion-512x363.jpg\" alt=\"artificial blood\" class=\"wp-image-25200\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Transfusion-512x363.jpg 512w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Transfusion-768x545.jpg 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Transfusion.jpg 1522w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: www.britannica.com\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003Cstrong>Institutionalized bloodthirst: someone\nneeds blood every two seconds\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>In any case, medical professionals haven’t given up the idea of finding a blood substitute, but they realized there’s a lot more to figure out about this mysterious material before it becomes feasible\u003C\u002Fstrong>. With \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002Fpmc\u002Farticles\u002FPMC3595629\u002F\">the discovery of human blood groups in the early 1900s\u003C\u002Fa>, one of the most important bits of medical information ever since, blood transfusions became a lot more feasible than before. In 1907, the first cross-matching took place, which means the examination of the incompatibility of the donor’s and the recipient’s blood type. Ten years after it, the first blood depot was created. In the next two decades, blood transfusion services, as well as blood facilities, were set up, and the practice of blood donation institutionalised.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>However, \u003Cstrong>the bloodsheds of the First World War and the Second World War have shown that blood is always in short supply – and that hasn’t changed since the early days of blood donation. According to the \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.who.int\u002Fmediacentre\u002Ffactsheets\u002Ffs279\u002Fen\u002F\">estimations of the WHO\u003C\u002Fa>, about 108 million units of donated blood are collected worldwide yearly; and \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.who.int\u002Ffeatures\u002Ffactfiles\u002Fblood_transfusion\u002Fen\u002F\">about 100 blood centers in 168 countries\u003C\u002Fa> report collecting a total of 83 million blood donations\u003C\u002Fstrong>. Although an increase of 10.7 million blood donations from voluntary unpaid donors was reported from 2008 to 2013, we cannot sit back and relax about these numbers, since \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fgivingblood.org\u002Fabout-blood\u002Fblood-facts.aspx\">someone needs blood every two seconds\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"341\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Bag-512x341.jpg\" alt=\"artificial blood\" class=\"wp-image-25201\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Bag-512x341.jpg 512w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Bag-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Bag-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Bag.jpg 1620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: www.medicaldaily.com\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003Cstrong>Huge\ndemand for artificial blood\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>And more often than not, it is very difficult to find blood donors. Consider the United States. According to \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.redcrossblood.org\u002Flearn-about-blood\u002Fblood-facts-and-statistics\">the statistics of the American Red Cross\u003C\u002Fa>, the number of blood donors in the U.S. is 6.8 million yearly on average. Although an estimated 38 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood at any given time, less than 10 percent of that eligible population actually do it each year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>That ‘institutionalized blood thirst’ coupled with the realization in the 1980s that HIV and hepatitis can be transmitted through blood transfusions that had been believed to be completely safe up until that point, gave a push for the creation of artificial blood in the last decades\u003C\u002Fstrong>. And many entrepreneurs in biotechnology try their best as the realization of that ‘Holy Grail’ would result in heaps of dollar bills. By one estimate, \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.popsci.com\u002Fartificial-blood-history-science\u002F\">the artificial blood market could be worth $15.6 billion by 2027\u003C\u002Fa> if companies could develop products that do everything from carrying oxygen to delivering drugs, and enhancing healing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Bank-refrigeration-512x288.jpg\" alt=\"artificial blood\" class=\"wp-image-25202\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Bank-refrigeration-512x288.jpg 512w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Bank-refrigeration-370x208.jpg 370w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Bank-refrigeration-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Bank-refrigeration-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Bank-refrigeration.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: www.swisslog.com\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003Cstrong>Dreams of true blood\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>However,\nwhile you can easily make fake blood for Halloween and dress up as a\nblood-thirsty vampire, the quest for artificial blood has been going on for\ncenturies – so far in vain. \u003Cstrong>Human blood is an incredibly complex cocktail of\nproteins, salt, platelets, red and white blood cells perfectly engineered to\ndeliver oxygen and nutrients throughout the body with precision and efficiency.\nThus, any fluid that tries to mimic that, \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cstrong>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002Fpmc\u002Farticles\u002FPMC2738310\u002F\">should\nat least have the following characteristics\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cstrong>.\n\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>First and foremost, it must be safe to use and compatible with the\nhuman body. \u003Cstrong>This means that different blood types should not matter when artificial\nblood is used\u003C\u002Fstrong>. It also means that the magical fluid can be processed to\nremove all disease-causing agents such as viruses and microorganisms. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>As a second prerequisite, \u003Cstrong>it must be able to transport oxygen\nthroughout the body and release it where it is needed\u003C\u002Fstrong>. That’s the main task\nof human blood, and as we’ll see that’s also the feature that has proved to be\nthe most imitable. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Third, \u003Cstrong>it must be shelf-stable. One of the most undesirable characteristics of blood is that it can only be stored for a relatively short period of time\u003C\u002Fstrong>. For example, as \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.redcrossblood.org\u002Fdonate-blood\u002Fblood-donation-process\u002Fwhat-happens-to-donated-blood.html\">the Red Cross recounts\u003C\u002Fa> blood cells should be stored in refrigerators at 6 ºC for only up to 42 days, while platelets can be stored at room temperature in agitators only for up to five days. So, unlike donated blood, scientists theorize that artificial blood should at least be able to be stored for over a year or more. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"299\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FArtificial-Blood-512x299.png\" alt=\"artificial blood\" class=\"wp-image-25203\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FArtificial-Blood-512x299.png 512w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FArtificial-Blood-768x448.png 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FArtificial-Blood.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: www.techengage.com\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003Cstrong>Where do we stand today?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>At\nthe present stage of developments, scientists are unable to mimic nature: none\nof the artificial blood products developed so far possess all the\nabove-mentioned characteristics\u003C\u002Fstrong>. As \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.scientificamerican.com\u002Farticle\u002Fhow-do-scientists-make-ar\u002F\">Prof.\nRobert M. Winslow of the University of California at San Diego, a pioneer in\nartificial blood research put it,\u003C\u002Fa>\nmost substitutes that have yet been invented can carry oxygen and carbon\ndioxide, while coagulation and immune defense, other vital functions of blood,\nare still out of sight. Therefore, replacement solutions could be more\naccurately described as oxygen carriers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Here, \u003Cstrong>there are two strands of research that stand out: solutions based on hemoglobin and perfluorocarbon (PFC)\u003C\u002Fstrong>. The most successful strategy has been the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.popsci.com\u002Fartificial-blood-history-science\u002F\">pursuit of hemoglobin-based blood substitutes, or HBOCs as they are called\u003C\u002Fa>, that mimic the oxygen transport functioning of red blood cells by synthetically creating and packaging human or cow hemoglobin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"342\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Bag-1-512x342.jpg\" alt=\"artificial blood\" class=\"wp-image-25204\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Bag-1-512x342.jpg 512w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Bag-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Bag-1.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: www.road.cc\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003Cstrong>From\nHemopure to freeze-dryable blood\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>While\nin the past, there have been dozens of unsuccessful experiments with\nhemoglobin-based solutions as well – the most famous one was perhaps the story\nof Hemopure, which was even introduced on the market in South Africa, but which\nturned out to be significantly increasing the risk of heart attack -, \u003Cstrong>the\nadvancement of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and blood cell biology has given\na major drive to innovation.\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>For\nexample, \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.kalocyte.com\u002F\">the\nteam of KaloCyte has created Erythomer\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cstrong>,\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.popsci.com\u002Fartificial-blood-history-science\u002F\">a\nbagel-shaped artificial red blood cell with a nanometer-sized synthetic packet\nof purified hemoglobin\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fstrong> (taken from\nexpired donated blood) sheathed in a synthetic shell. Unlike regular blood\ndonations, it can be freeze-dried, stored at room temperature for extended\nperiods of time, and injected into any human regardless of blood type. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.popsci.com\u002Fartificial-blood-history-science\u002F\">Other\nlabs have focused on mimicking the clotting function of platelets\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cstrong>,\ncrucial for ensuring someone doesn’t bleed out\u003C\u002Fstrong>.\nMaterials engineer Erin \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Flaviklab.org\u002F\">Lavik’s\nlab\u003C\u002Fa> at the University of Maryland is\ndeveloping a synthetic polymer nanostructure that binds with platelets to help\nthem pile up more quickly. Biotech startup \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.haimatherapeutics.com\u002F\">Haima Therapeutics\u003C\u002Fa>’\nplatelet substitute, Synthoplate, is currently in pre-clinical animal testing. The\ncompany says they expect to begin safety and toxicology evaluations under FDA\nrequirements in 2-3 years – \u003Cstrong>and according to their estimations, they are\napproximately five years away from commercialization. The same is said about\nKaloCyte’s product.\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>In the meantime, and \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.asahi.com\u002Fajw\u002Farticles\u002FAJ201909290001.html\">as the latest news around artificial blood experimentation\u003C\u002Fa>, Japanese researchers from the National Defense Medical College said they have developed artificial blood that can be transfused into patients regardless of their blood type and can vastly improve the chances for survival of seriously injured people. So far, they have proved the material effective on rabbits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"341\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FAllan-Doctor-512x341.jpg\" alt=\"artificial blood\" class=\"wp-image-25205\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FAllan-Doctor-512x341.jpg 512w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FAllan-Doctor-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FAllan-Doctor.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Allan Doctor, MD, a professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and his research team have received $5 million in grants to develop artificial red blood cells to act as a blood substitute. They call their material Erythomer. Source: https:\u002F\u002Fmedicine.wustl.edu\n\n\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003Cstrong>Perfluorocarbon – or rats surviving\nin fluid\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>While\nhemoglobin-based artificial blood has never received approval from the FDA so\nfar, a substitute, which used perfluorocarbons, already reached that stage –\nalthough it was pulled out of the market \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002Fpmc\u002Farticles\u002FPMC2738310\u002F\">due\nto technical difficulties of usage\u003C\u002Fa>.\n\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>PFCs are basically biologically inert materials, a group of human-made chemicals composed of carbon and fluorine only, which can dissolve about 50 times more oxygen than blood plasma. They are able to carry oxygen between the lungs and the tissues\u003C\u002Fstrong>. Moreover, perfluorocarbon-based liquids can be breathed in, and oxygen movement will unfold between the fluid and the capillaries. As in the movie entitled \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.imdb.com\u002Ftitle\u002Ftt0096754\u002F?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\">The Abyss\u003C\u002Fa>, a rat is put into perfluorocarbon liquid – and it still continues to breathe and, well basically, stay alive. Before you would say that was a Hollywoodian magic trick, \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.nytimes.com\u002F1989\u002F08\u002F06\u002Fmovies\u002Ffilm-the-abyss-a-foray-into-deep-waters.html\">a The New York Times article said that\u003C\u002Fa> was actually carried out on set. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Before these experiments would raise our hopes, \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002Fpmc\u002Farticles\u002FPMC2738310\u002F\">PFC-based products are way out of sight now due to two hurdles\u003C\u002Fa>. First, they are not soluble in water, which means to get them to work, they must be combined with emulsifiers, and second, they have the ability to carry much less oxygen than hemoglobin-based products\u003C\u002Fstrong>. This means that significantly more PFC must be used.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"341\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Drop-512x341.jpg\" alt=\"artificial blood\" class=\"wp-image-25206\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Drop-512x341.jpg 512w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Drop-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Drop-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002FBlood-Drop.jpg 1620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: www.nbcnews.com\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>As you can see, for now, these examples leave little hope for artificial blood. Unfortunately, \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmedicalfuturist.com\u002Fdisruptive-digital-technologies-will-change-blood-donation\u002F\">blood donations\u003C\u002Fa> can not be replaced by substitute material for the foreseeable future. At least for the next 5-10 years, there are not such commercially available products that could beat human blood – in saving millions of lives around the globe. Thus, \u003Cstrong>all we can say is until we figure out how to create artificial blood, go and donate as much blood as possible. Remember, someone needs it every two seconds.\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ctable style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #eee; border-top: 4px solid #444;\" cellpadding=\"10px\">\n\u003Ctbody>\n\u003Ctr>\n\u003Ctd style=\"width: 100%;\">\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>At The Medical Futurist, we are building a community for making a bold vision about the future of healthcare reality today.\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fembed\u002FFIbMejImnxs\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\">\u003C\u002Fiframe>\n\u003Cp>If you’d like to support this mission, we invite you to \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.patreon.com\u002Fthemedicalfuturist\">join The Medical Futurist Patreon Community\u003C\u002Fa>. A community of empowered patients, future-oriented healthcare professionals, concerned health policymakers, sensible health tech developers, and enthusiastic medical students. If there were ever a time to join us, it is now. Every contribution, however big or small, powers our research and sustains our future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.patreon.com\u002Fthemedicalfuturist\">\u003Cstrong style=\"background-color: #e71d3299; color: #000;\">Click here to support The Medical Futurist from as little as $3\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fa> – it only takes a minute. Thank you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Ftd>\n\u003C\u002Ftr>\n\u003C\u002Ftbody>\n\u003C\u002Ftable>\n\u003Cp> \u003C\u002Fp>\n",false,{"rendered":22,"protected":20},"\u003Cp>What is the common denominator for milk, lamb blood, urine, and beer? You would never guess, so we let you off the hook: they were all tried as substitutes for blood during experiments on the quest to find an alternative fluid to replace the elixir of life: human blood. Despite the tremendous efforts, though, artificial blood remains an unsolvable biological puzzle with only a few innovative solutions that give hope that one day it will become a reality. \u003C\u002Fp>\n",6,25211,"closed",true,"","standard",{"_acf_changed":20,"footnotes":27},[31,32],500,521,[34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44],668,669,972,1182,1215,1228,153,1521,246,1522,425,[],[],[48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56],1883,2329,2941,2943,2963,3347,1723,1739,1801,[58,14,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76],"post-25199","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biotechnology","category-future-medicine","tag-blood-donation","tag-blood","tag-history","tag-biology","tag-history-of-medicine","tag-artificial","tag-biotechnology-2","tag-artificial-blood","tag-future","tag-substitute","tag-technology-2",{"id":24,"alt_text":78,"caption":27,"description":27,"media_type":79,"media_details":80,"post":5,"source_url":120},"artificial blood","image",{"width":81,"height":82,"file":83,"sizes":84,"image_meta":117},1050,750,"2019\u002F10\u002Fartificial-red-blood-cells.jpg",{"medium":85,"large":91,"thumbnail":96,"medium_large":100,"large_old_512x366":101,"thumbnail_old_150x150":106,"medium_old_370x208":108,"medium_large_old_768x549":111,"large_old_512x366_old_512x366":114},{"file":86,"width":87,"height":88,"mime-type":89,"source_url":90},"artificial-red-blood-cells-370x208.jpg",370,208,"image\u002Fjpeg","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002Fartificial-red-blood-cells-370x208.jpg",{"file":92,"width":93,"height":94,"mime-type":89,"source_url":95},"artificial-red-blood-cells-768x549.jpg",768,549,"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002Fartificial-red-blood-cells-768x549.jpg",{"file":97,"width":98,"height":98,"mime-type":89,"source_url":99},"artificial-red-blood-cells-150x150.jpg",150,"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002Fartificial-red-blood-cells-150x150.jpg",{"file":92,"width":93,"height":94,"mime-type":89,"source_url":95},{"file":102,"width":103,"height":104,"mime-type":89,"source_url":105},"artificial-red-blood-cells-512x366.jpg",512,366,"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002Fartificial-red-blood-cells-512x366.jpg",{"file":97,"width":107,"height":107,"mime-type":89,"source_url":99},"150",{"file":86,"width":109,"height":110,"mime-type":89,"source_url":90},"370","208",{"file":92,"width":112,"height":113,"mime-type":89,"source_url":95},"768","549",{"file":102,"width":115,"height":116,"mime-type":89,"source_url":105},"512","366",{"aperture":118,"credit":27,"camera":27,"caption":27,"created_timestamp":118,"copyright":27,"focal_length":118,"iso":118,"shutter_speed":118,"title":27,"orientation":118,"keywords":119},"0",[],"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F10\u002Fartificial-red-blood-cells.jpg",{"related_posts_footer":122,"related_posts":20,"cta_type":127,"cta_color":128,"subtitle":27,"related_books":20},[123,124,125,126],15447,22248,22457,24170,"collaboration","green",{"yoast_wpseo_title":130,"yoast_wpseo_metadesc":131,"yoast_wpseo_canonical":15},"Artificial Blood: Unsolvable Biological Puzzle Or Soon-To-Be Reality? - The Medical Futurist","Will artificial blood ever become a reality? The Medical Futurist went on a quest to find out whether blood donations could be replaced soon.",{"self":133,"collection":139,"about":142,"author":145,"replies":148,"version-history":151,"predecessor-version":155,"wp:featuredmedia":159,"wp:attachment":162,"wp:term":165,"curies":181},[134],{"href":135,"targetHints":136},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fposts\u002F25199",{"allow":137},[138],"GET",[140],{"href":141},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fposts",[143],{"href":144},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Ftypes\u002Fpost",[146],{"embeddable":26,"href":147},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fusers\u002F6",[149],{"embeddable":26,"href":150},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fcomments?post=25199",[152],{"count":153,"href":154},14,"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fposts\u002F25199\u002Frevisions",[156],{"id":157,"href":158},50343,"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fposts\u002F25199\u002Frevisions\u002F50343",[160],{"embeddable":26,"href":161},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fmedia\u002F25211",[163],{"href":164},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fmedia?parent=25199",[166,169,172,175,178],{"taxonomy":167,"embeddable":26,"href":168},"category","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fcategories?post=25199",{"taxonomy":170,"embeddable":26,"href":171},"post_tag","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Ftags?post=25199",{"taxonomy":173,"embeddable":26,"href":174},"project_category","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fproject_category?post=25199",{"taxonomy":176,"embeddable":26,"href":177},"contact_email_category","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fcontact_email_category?post=25199",{"taxonomy":179,"embeddable":26,"href":180},"yst_prominent_words","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fyst_prominent_words?post=25199",[182],{"name":183,"href":184,"templated":26},"wp","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.w.org\u002F{rel}",[186],{"id":126,"date":187,"date_gmt":188,"guid":189,"modified":191,"modified_gmt":192,"slug":193,"status":13,"type":14,"link":194,"title":195,"content":197,"excerpt":199,"author":23,"featured_media":201,"comment_status":25,"ping_status":25,"sticky":26,"template":27,"format":28,"meta":202,"categories":203,"tags":205,"project_category":221,"contact_email_category":222,"yst_prominent_words":223,"class_list":224,"better_featured_image":242,"acf":273,"yoast_meta":282,"_links":285},"2019-06-22T11:00:11","2019-06-22T09:00:11",{"rendered":190},"https:\u002F\u002Fmedicalfuturist.com\u002F?post_id=24170&_wpnonce=e8585f09e5&status=auto-draft&type=post","2023-03-02T09:16:11","2023-03-02T08:16:11","artificial-womb-and-the-future-of-birth","https:\u002F\u002Fmedicalfuturist.com\u002Fartificial-womb-and-the-future-of-birth",{"rendered":196},"Will We Be Born In 2050?",{"rendered":198,"protected":20},"\n\u003Ctable style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #eee; border-top: 4px solid #444;\" cellpadding=\"5px\">\n\u003Ctbody>\n\u003Ctr>\n\u003Ctd style=\"width: 100%;\">\n\u003Cp style=\"color: #555;font-size: 12px;line-height: 14px\">THIS ARTICLE HAS NOT BEEN UPDATED SINCE 2019. THE INFORMATION SHARED IN THE ARTICLE WAS ACCURATE AT THE TIME OF ITS PUBLICATION, BUT IT MAY BE OUT OF DATE NOW. \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmedicalfuturist.com\u002Fmagazine\">BROWSE OUR LATEST ARTICLES HERE\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Ftd> \u003C\u002Ftr>\u003C\u002Ftbody>\u003C\u002Ftable>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Being born and giving birth are full of pain, blood, and trauma. Many science fiction works, such as Brave New World, Matrix, The Island, or I am Mother imagine being brought to the world without actually being born from a mother’s womb. How far-fetched are these scenarios? Could the appearance of the artificial womb replace human mothers and natural birth in the future? How will we come into this world in 2050? Will we be born?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003Cstrong>The trauma of being born and giving birth\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>The\nexperience of being born and leaving the nurturing womb of our mother after\nmore or less nine months is painful, bloody, and traumatic. Abrupt separation\nfrom a protective environment into the hostile world. One hundred percent\nbiological, nothing pathetic. It’s a trauma for both mother and child from both\nthe physical and the psychological perspective\u003C\u002Fstrong>. \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fexploringyourmind.com\u002Fotto-rank-trauma-of-birth\u002F\">Otto Rank, a well-known Austrian psychoanalyst\nbelieved\u003C\u002Fa> that being born\nis the first trauma that we go through as humans in this world – the very first\none that determines future anxieties and neuroses. No wonder that the word\n“anxiety” comes from the Latin root word “angere”, which means to choke or\nstrangle. And where do you have to go through an experience close to being\nchoked or strangled the first time in your life? When you struggle with being\nborn and go through the narrow birth canal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Nevertheless, giving birth isn’t without its own\ntraumas either. As they bring another human being into this planet, \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.who.int\u002Fnews-room\u002Ffact-sheets\u002Fdetail\u002Fmaternal-mortality\">803 women die from\ncomplications related to pregnancy and childbirth every day\u003C\u002Fa>, according to the World Health Organization. When\nthey survive, the road of giving birth is marked by debilitating pain, Cesarian\nsection, complications, and a care setting, whose quality level could also be\nlife-altering. In addition, \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.postpartum.net\u002Flearn-more\u002Fpostpartum-post-traumatic-stress-disorder\u002F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Postpartum Support\nInternational\u003C\u002Fa>, an advocacy\nand support group, estimates that approximately \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.postpartum.net\u002Flearn-more\u002Fpostpartum-post-traumatic-stress-disorder\u002F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">9 percent of new mothers\u003C\u002Fa> experience PTSD, a disorder that is often associated\nwith war veterans, but that can be triggered by trauma of any kind. Women who\nexperience a lack of safety and poor care, total loss of control through\nchildbirth can suffer from the condition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Thus, while some midwives believe that hormones of love and transcendence are released in peak doses during labor, birth, and breastfeeding, \u003Cstrong>the overall experience of both the baby and the mother could be overshadowed by trauma. So why should we go through all the trouble of being born and giving birth? Could we just leave out this highly burdensome process and materialize in some other way in the universe?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002F1712507217.rsc.cdn77.org\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FBirth-And-Trauma-512x288.jpg\" alt=\"artificial womb\" class=\"wp-image-24171\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FBirth-And-Trauma-512x288.jpg 512w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FBirth-And-Trauma-370x208.jpg 370w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FBirth-And-Trauma-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FBirth-And-Trauma.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: www.mindfulreturn.com\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003Cstrong>God\nand the Hatchery\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The dystopia or utopia of not being born but being\nbrought into the world in some mysterious, other way has been moving the\nfantasy of humankind for thousands of years. Many Gods and Goddesses in\nnumerous mythologies were born out of thin air. For example, according to the\nlegends, Pallas Athena, the Greek Goddess of Wisdom, Crafts and War jumped from\nthe head of Zeus, fully-grown and arrayed in arms. According to the Christian\nbelief system, Adam, the first man was created by God from the earth and he\nbreathed life into his nostrils, while Eve was created from Adam’s side. No\nbirthing process there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Later on, with the advancement of technology, God’s creative hand started to get replaced by dystopic or utopic inventions in the human imagination. In revolutionary and emblematic sci-fi tales, movies, and novels, technological solutions could take out the necessity of being born the natural way.\u003C\u002Fstrong> In Aldous Huxley’s ingenious Brave New World, humans get into the world through a careful manufacturing process. \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.enotes.com\u002Fhomework-help\u002Fwhat-purpose-hatchery-conditioning-center-666778\">Human reproduction occurs in the Hatchery\u003C\u002Fa> in test tubes and incubators. In addition, in the machines of the Conditioning Center, embryos are given certain hormones and chemicals that place them within a certain category of the society’s caste system. Everything is mechanized, organized, carefully sorted – just as the highly efficient production line, the symbol of the early 20th century.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"230\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002F1712507217.rsc.cdn77.org\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FBrave-New-World-512x230.jpg\" alt=\"artificial womb\" class=\"wp-image-24172\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FBrave-New-World-512x230.jpg 512w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FBrave-New-World-768x345.jpg 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FBrave-New-World.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: www.geektyrant.com\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003Cstrong>Repopulation Facilities, cloning islands, and fetus\nfields\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Later on, the creation of humans as machines or rather, as efficient numbers in a society for the utmost benefit of society itself was twisted in the iconic Matrix trilogy, where humans were already grown (not born) for the benefit of machines\u003C\u002Fstrong>. This happens in the so-called fetus fields, where human babies are synthetically grown and gathered and transferred by harvester machines to the power plant. Fetuses are maintained in their pods by spider-like machines, while harvesters maintain the fields by attacking intruders or disposing of dead fetuses if necessary. Another efficient production line – although this one is not imitating the factory, but rather modern agriculture. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Something similar happens in the science fiction\nmovie, \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.imdb.com\u002Ftitle\u002Ftt0399201\u002F?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\">The Island\u003C\u002Fa>. Cloned humans are living in a colony not being aware\nof their actual identity: they were brought to life already as fully grown\nhumans to provide auxiliary body parts or become surrogate mothers for the rich\nwho wanted to live as long as possible, wanted to avoid diseases or the\nhardships of pregnancy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>The latest sci-fi adaptation of the idea of not being born, but being thrown into the world through technology appears in the Netflix movie, I am Mother. After the extinction of humankind, a friendly robot goes into the UNU HWK Repopulation Facility and chooses a female embryo from the 63.000 unborn ones frozen in tiny containers\u003C\u002Fstrong>. It places the fetus into an artificial womb, and when the machine starts beeping, it cracks the womb open: a tiny girl is brought into the world. The entire process resembles the natural way: the time spent in the womb is the same, and the robot raises the child just as a mother would. It sings Baby mine, don’t you cry to the little child when she doesn’t want to stop crying, teaches her how to draw or how to dance ballet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002F1712507217.rsc.cdn77.org\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FFetus-Fields-in-Matrix-512x288.jpg\" alt=\"artificial womb\" class=\"wp-image-24173\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FFetus-Fields-in-Matrix-512x288.jpg 512w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FFetus-Fields-in-Matrix-370x208.jpg 370w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FFetus-Fields-in-Matrix-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FFetus-Fields-in-Matrix-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FFetus-Fields-in-Matrix.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: www.pinterest.dk\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003Cstrong>Being\nborn in an artificial womb into a robot family?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>How far are we from this scenario? Is it extremely mind-boggling to believe that in a couple of decades, artificial wombs might accommodate the next generation before being born into a robot family? Looking at the recent developments around the female reproductive organ, we are not as far as we would imagine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>At the end of 2018, th\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fedition.cnn.com\u002F2018\u002F12\u002F04\u002Fhealth\u002Futerus-transplant-deceased-donor-study\u002Findex.html\">e\nfirst baby was born to a woman who received a uterus transplant from a deceased\ndonor\u003C\u002Fa>. At least a dozen children in Sweden, the United States, and Serbia\nhave been born to women with transplanted uteri donated by a living relative\u003C\u002Fstrong>,\nnoted the authors of a \u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fdx.doi.org\u002F10.1016\u002FS0140-6736(18)31766-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">study\u003C\u002Fa>, which was published in the medical journal The\nLancet. Thus, in the future, it is more likely than ever to imagine as a\ncommonplace process that women whose uterus isn’t capable of nurturing a baby\nfor nine months could undergo uterus transplant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>As we understand a lot more about how the uterus operates and how another human being could accept it, we also get to know a lot more about how to create one artificially. On 25 April 2017, \u003Cem>Nature Communications\u003C\u002Fem> published a \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.nature.com\u002Farticles\u002Fncomms15112\">study\u003C\u002Fa> led by researcher Emily Partridge that provided the most successful \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.theatlantic.com\u002Fhealth\u002Farchive\u002F2017\u002F04\u002Fpreemies-floating-in-fluid-filled-bags\u002F524181\u002F\">demonstration yet of an “artificial womb\u003C\u002Fa>”\u003C\u002Fstrong>. Extremely premature lambs, a close animal model for human fetuses, were suspended in a liquid-filled, plastic-covered extra-uterine womb, allowing the lambs to further develop for four weeks. The researchers used eight lamb fetuses that were 105 to 115 days old – a level of development comparable to a 23-week-old human fetus. The small, pinkish living beings were floating, dreaming, eating and growing as if surrounded by “regular” amniotic liquid. According to preliminary estimations, animal studies will be completed within two years, and if approved, such artificial wombs might be tested on extremely premature human fetuses within 3-5 years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"256\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002F1712507217.rsc.cdn77.org\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FArtificial-Womb-512x256.jpg\" alt=\"artificial womb\" class=\"wp-image-24174\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FArtificial-Womb-512x256.jpg 512w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FArtificial-Womb-768x383.jpg 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FArtificial-Womb.jpg 1300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: www.inverse.com\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003Cstrong>Artificial\nwombs instead of surrogate mothers?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>That doesn’t mean that zygotes will be planted into\nartificial wombs any time soon, but rather that extremely premature babies will\nhave a chance to spend more time in a nurturing environment before being\nactually born. \u003Cstrong>However, the progressive\ntechnology will eventually mean an option of the artificial womb – but it will,\nof course, depend on humans how they’ll put it into use. Moreover, we have\nabsolutely no idea how an artificial womb would affect unborn babies physically\nand mentally.\u003C\u002Fstrong> How will they bond with their environment if they come from\nan artificial one? How would their physical and cognitive abilities develop?\nWhat would we gain if we left out the trauma of being born and substituted it\nfor the trauma of being produced in an artificial space?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>On the other hand, what if the idea of an artificial womb would mean a technological solution for very real and problematic social phenomena?\u003C\u002Fstrong> Many couples cannot have their own babies for various reasons ranging from infertility to being gay. In these cases, couples can choose from several options: in vitro fertilization, adoption, or surrogacy. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>There are \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.bbc.com\u002Fnews\u002Fhealth-47826356\">no precise figures on how many children are born through surrogates\u003C\u002Fa> but as far back as 2012, the industry around surrogacy was worth an estimated $6bn a year. Financially and socially vulnerable women can be targets for surrogacy recruitment, attracted by the sums of money on offer. A surrogate in Ukraine, for example, \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.bbc.co.uk\u002Fnews\u002Fworld-europe-42845602\">can earn up to $20,000\u003C\u002Fa> – more than eight times the average yearly income. However, there have been reports of poor treatment of surrogate mothers, so much so that some countries already abandoned the “surrogacy business” altogether. \u003Cstrong>Wouldn’t artificial wombs mean a technological solution for such situations? Poor women in low-income countries would not have to undertake the long, life-altering process of pregnancy and giving birth for the happiness of another, most probably rich, couple\u003C\u002Fstrong> \u003Cstrong>but those would rather pay for the artificial womb and let the poor woman live her own life?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"341\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002F1712507217.rsc.cdn77.org\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FArtificial-Wombs-Are-Coming-512x341.jpg\" alt=\"artificial womb\" class=\"wp-image-24175\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FArtificial-Wombs-Are-Coming-512x341.jpg 512w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FArtificial-Wombs-Are-Coming-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FArtificial-Wombs-Are-Coming.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: www.vox.com\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003Cstrong>Artificial womb as the ultimate health sensor?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Another, rather biological issue with the mother’s womb is that while it ensures a nurturing environment for the baby, it also doesn’t let physicians get close to the fetus in any sense. The medical community has to do tricks to listen to the baby’s heart sounds, to make snapshots about how the fetus develops, and to follow the entire process of becoming a human being from a zygote. Now, imagine an artificial womb that is transparent and displays every useful vital sign and health information of the baby. \u003Cstrong>Wouldn’t it make sense to build it as an ecosystem based on the constant flow of data, with artificial intelligence algorithms anticipating every need of the baby? Doctors and nurses would know everything about the unborn child from its genetic background to its health risks before it is even born. Imagine how differently the development curve of babies could go down if the health risks that they were susceptible to were already taken out in the womb.\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>So far, we haven’t spoken about the options of\nmodifying the baby, the possibilities for cloning, gene editing, or \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmedicalfuturist.com\u002Fdesigner-babies-a-dystopian-sidetrack-of-gene-editing\">designer babies\u003C\u002Fa>. The latter means the potential future choice of\nparents to determine their perfect baby with the traits that they want to see\nthe most: tall, clever, blue-eyed, etc. That would be dangerous meddling with\nhuman nature, but most probably wouldn’t alter the process of giving birth. The\nsame might be the case for cloning, too, where the entire birthing process goes\nthe natural way – as \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmedicalfuturist.com\u002Fwhere-is-the-boundary-to-augment-life\">the example\nof Dolly, the sheep showed earlier\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Nevertheless, there are some futurists who believe in scenarios where designer babies, cloning, and the end of birth as we know it will most probably happen at the same time. \u003Cstrong>For example, transhumanists do not only imagine designer babies, but \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmedicalfuturist.com\u002Fzoltan-istvan-and-the-jesus-singularity\">Zoltan Istvan says\u003C\u002Fa> that within 50 years, we basically enter the Star Wars universe where you can do genetic modification and become basically any type of entity. He believes that the question will be whether you even want to have a human child when you can have a child from some other planet whose brain is a thousand times smarter.\u003C\u002Fstrong> As a transhumanist, he says that based on the recent trajectory of technological development, and on the micro-process of how fast things are evolving, these questions will not be too crazy to consider.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002F1712507217.rsc.cdn77.org\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FArtificial-Wombs-Are-Coming-2-512x384.jpg\" alt=\"artificial womb\" class=\"wp-image-24176\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FArtificial-Wombs-Are-Coming-2-512x384.jpg 512w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FArtificial-Wombs-Are-Coming-2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002FArtificial-Wombs-Are-Coming-2.jpg 1393w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: www.vice.com\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>While we do not believe that humans should be allowed to genetically modify babies when there is no health risk involved, we believe that the process of birth should not be taken for granted, and technologies such as the development of the artificial womb should be followed closely\u003C\u002Fstrong> – as it might mean the solution for women who do not want to give birth in the future but still want to become mothers. Just as the smiley robot from I am Mother. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ctable style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #eee; border-top: 4px solid #444;\" cellpadding=\"10px\">\n\u003Ctbody>\n\u003Ctr>\n\u003Ctd style=\"width: 100%;\">\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>At The Medical Futurist, we are building a community for making a bold vision about the future of healthcare reality today.\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fembed\u002FFIbMejImnxs\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\">\u003C\u002Fiframe>\n\u003Cp>If you’d like to support this mission, we invite you to \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.patreon.com\u002Fthemedicalfuturist\">join The Medical Futurist Patreon Community\u003C\u002Fa>. A community of empowered patients, future-oriented healthcare professionals, concerned health policymakers, sensible health tech developers, and enthusiastic medical students. If there were ever a time to join us, it is now. Every contribution, however big or small, powers our research and sustains our future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.patreon.com\u002Fthemedicalfuturist\">\u003Cstrong style=\"background-color: #e71d3299; color: #000;\">Click here to support The Medical Futurist from as little as $3\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fa> – it only takes a minute. Thank you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Ftd>\n\u003C\u002Ftr>\n\u003C\u002Ftbody>\n\u003C\u002Ftable>\n\u003Cp> \u003C\u002Fp>\n",{"rendered":200,"protected":20},"\u003Cp>Being born and giving birth is full of pain, blood, and trauma. Many science fiction works, such as Brave New World, Matrix, The Island, or I am Mother imagine being brought to the world without actually being born in a mother’s womb. How far-fetched are these scenarios? Could the appearance of the artificial womb replace human mothers and natural birth in the future? How will we come into this world in 2050? Will we be born?\u003C\u002Fp>\n",24181,{"_acf_changed":20,"footnotes":27},[32,204],515,[206,207,208,209,210,39,211,212,213,214,44,42,215,216,217,218,219,220],313,888,381,926,382,383,1370,387,1371,271,674,275,679,289,887,[],[],[56,48,53],[225,14,59,60,61,62,63,65,226,227,228,229,230,231,71,232,233,234,235,76,74,236,237,238,239,240,241],"post-24170","category-science-fiction","tag-medicine","tag-birth","tag-sci-fi","tag-society","tag-science","tag-science-fiction","tag-uterus","tag-scifi","tag-mother","tag-health","tag-artificial-womb","tag-healthcare","tag-designer-baby","tag-innovation","tag-baby",{"id":201,"alt_text":243,"caption":27,"description":27,"media_type":79,"media_details":244,"post":126,"source_url":272},"artificial womb",{"width":245,"height":246,"file":247,"sizes":248,"image_meta":271},1920,1080,"2019\u002F06\u002F093_will_we_born_in_2050.png",{"medium":249,"large":253,"thumbnail":257,"medium_large":260,"1536x1536":261,"2048x2048":266},{"file":250,"width":109,"height":110,"mime-type":251,"source_url":252},"093_will_we_born_in_2050-370x208.png","image\u002Fpng","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002F093_will_we_born_in_2050-370x208.png",{"file":254,"width":112,"height":255,"mime-type":251,"source_url":256},"093_will_we_born_in_2050-768x432.png","432","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002F093_will_we_born_in_2050-768x432.png",{"file":258,"width":107,"height":107,"mime-type":251,"source_url":259},"093_will_we_born_in_2050-150x150.png","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002F093_will_we_born_in_2050-150x150.png",{"file":254,"width":112,"height":255,"mime-type":251,"source_url":256},{"file":262,"width":263,"height":264,"mime-type":251,"source_url":265},"093_will_we_born_in_2050-1536x864.png","1536","864","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002F093_will_we_born_in_2050-1536x864.png",{"file":267,"width":268,"height":269,"mime-type":251,"source_url":270},"093_will_we_born_in_2050-2048x1152.png","2048","1152","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002F093_will_we_born_in_2050-2048x1152.png",{"aperture":118,"credit":27,"camera":27,"caption":27,"created_timestamp":118,"copyright":27,"focal_length":118,"iso":118,"shutter_speed":118,"title":27,"orientation":118},"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2019\u002F06\u002F093_will_we_born_in_2050-scaled.png",{"related_posts":274,"related_posts_footer":278,"cta_type":27,"cta_color":27,"subtitle":27,"related_books":20},[275,276,277],15551,22549,11980,[279,280,281],13990,15602,14216,{"yoast_wpseo_title":283,"yoast_wpseo_metadesc":284,"yoast_wpseo_canonical":194},"Will We Be Born In 2050? - The Medical Futurist","Could the appearance of the artificial womb replace human mothers and natural birth in the future? How will we come into the world in 2050? Will we be born?",{"self":286,"collection":291,"about":293,"author":295,"replies":297,"version-history":300,"predecessor-version":304,"wp:featuredmedia":308,"wp:attachment":311,"wp:term":314,"curies":325},[287],{"href":288,"targetHints":289},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fposts\u002F24170",{"allow":290},[138],[292],{"href":141},[294],{"href":144},[296],{"embeddable":26,"href":147},[298],{"embeddable":26,"href":299},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fcomments?post=24170",[301],{"count":302,"href":303},7,"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fposts\u002F24170\u002Frevisions",[305],{"id":306,"href":307},49735,"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fposts\u002F24170\u002Frevisions\u002F49735",[309],{"embeddable":26,"href":310},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fmedia\u002F24181",[312],{"href":313},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fmedia?parent=24170",[315,317,319,321,323],{"taxonomy":167,"embeddable":26,"href":316},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fcategories?post=24170",{"taxonomy":170,"embeddable":26,"href":318},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Ftags?post=24170",{"taxonomy":173,"embeddable":26,"href":320},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fproject_category?post=24170",{"taxonomy":176,"embeddable":26,"href":322},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fcontact_email_category?post=24170",{"taxonomy":179,"embeddable":26,"href":324},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fyst_prominent_words?post=24170",[326],{"name":183,"href":184,"templated":26},[],1788949235626]