Plastic Blood

This is one of the coolest science articles I have read in a long time!
Plastic Blood
This is a subject that is dear to my heart. (pun intended) I spend two hours every other Monday with a needle in each arm donating platelets. As I write this I have just washed the iodine off of my arms from today's donation.
Although, as I understand it, the plastic blood can not be used in the same situations that platelets are used, it could possibly mean that the supply of whole blood donated could be used for other purposes.
The neatest part of this is that it does not need to be refrigerated and it has a much greater shelf life. This could potentially enable search and rescue responders to take blood further into the rescue than ever before. I'm looking forward to reading more about this.