Blood:
Blood runs through your body like a river, bringing nutrients and oxygen and removing waste.
Even though blood is made up mostly of water, it’s only been recently that we’ve been able to synthesize it. And artificial blood is still not available for use. The components of blood are complex!
An antigen is a substance that triggers an immune response type. Blood types are named for the antigens that are either present or absent: the A antigen or B antigen or AB, a combination of both, or O, which doesn’t have either. Also in play is the Rhesus factor: if it’s present, the blood is positive. The rarest blood type is AB- and the most common is O+. We know about blood types, but not really the purpose of the different types.
Guts:
The make-up of your gut flora affects your health in many ways. Your immune system, metabolism, and nervous system are all influenced by the kinds of microorganisms and bacteria in your gut. There is a medical procedure called a fecal microbiota transplant that transfers the stool from a healthy donor into a patient to promote healthy bacteria in the gut. There was even a South Park episode about FMT! (see below)
Humanmicrobes.org will pay young, healthy people to donate their stool for research and transplant. Last I looked, they were offering $500 per stool, no joke! A poop a day and you would be doing very well indeed!