Freeze dried blood coming to battle

The Israel Defense Forces say they are working with a company to develop a form of freeze dried blood that soldiers could carry into battle with them in case they get injured.

"The idea is to take a soldier's blood, freeze it in laboratory conditions, take out the ice crystals leaving only the blood components. It will look like freeze-dried coffee in a little bag," Lieutenant colonel Amir Blumenfeld, head of the IDF medical corps' trauma unit told the newspaper Haaretz.

In case of injuries, a medic could mix the crystals with purified water and make blood. Sort of like Nescafe.

It may be ready in two years.

War and technology are closely linked in Israel. Many of the companies that have emerged from there--Checkpoint, Envara-- indirectly grew out of military projects. When Checkpoint co-founder Gil Shwed left an intelligence group, he founded the company.

Military experience also serves as sort of a finishing school for engineers and managers, who learn to get things done quick. During the 1973 war, professors at the Technion came up with a system to foul up the guidance systems of incoming missiles in a few days.