This could be huge!
Researchers with the University of British Columbia, in Canada, may have figured out how to convert any blood type to Type-O (AKA the Universal Blood Type).
Breaking it down, the researchers found a special enzyme (or bacteria) in our gut that’s pretty stellar at plucking sugars off of proteins. That matters because things called “antigens” are what causes the different blood types, and they’re made of sugar.
Basically, they took the bacteria, made it attack different types of blood cells, and watched it remove the antigens. Leaving Type-O blood behind.
The scientists still think some tweaking could be made to be even more efficient, but pretty soon, we may be able to convert any type of blood to be the universal type, making blood shortages a thing of the past.
