

Ask HN: "Platelets" for stopping the oil leak? - itistoday

I was thinking today about how much the oil leak resembles a cut on an animal, and how those cuts eventually heal on animals but not in the Gulf.<p>So far we've attempted to put a "band-aid" over the hole, but what eventually stops people from bleeding are platelets, not band-aids. Are there any chemicals we could pump in from the side of the leak to plug the hole as they drift out of it? Has this been tried?
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hga
I think the problem here is that oil is not drifting but gushing out.
Platelets don't get a chance to do their thing until bleeding mostly stops; in
this case we need to apply a tourniquet first.

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itistoday
Good point, but it seems like so far they're _only_ applying a tourniquet,
unless I'm mistaken.

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devinj
What more do you need to stop bleeding? It's not like we're worried about
gangrene here.

