Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the web. Kevin Kelly on how technology evolves. New Bandages Latest in Healthcare Technology - High Tech Bandages and Band-Aids. ChitoGauze (Photograph courtesy of HemCon Medical Technologies, Inc.)
HemCon Medical Technologies manufactures bandages and wound dressings that harness the power of the sea. The company's products use chitosan, a biopolymer made from a component in the exoskeletons of crab, shrimp and other crustacean exoskeletons. The positively charged chitosan attracts the negatively charged outer membranes of red blood cells; when the two come into contact, localized clotting occurs.
HemCon's chitosan-coated bandages are already in use in Iraq; its latest product is ChitoGauze. Aerogel: See-Through, Strong as Steel & Ligher than Air.