"Caterpillars' Remarkable Ability to Halt Bleeding Uncovered by Scientists"
Originally Published 1 year ago — by Phys.org
Scientists have discovered how caterpillars of the Carolina sphinx moth can stop their bleeding in seconds by transforming their hemolymph from a viscous to a viscoelastic fluid. This transformation allows the hemolymph to quickly seal wounds by retracting back to the wound and forming a crust. The study, published in Frontiers in Soft Matter, has potential applications for human medicine, with researchers hoping to design drugs that could turn human blood into a viscoelastic material to stop bleeding.