Then he mentions the word dextran and I realize he’s describing the blood plasma substitute I’d read about in the lobby. Originally intended for U.S. troops fighting on the front lines in Korea, it’s commonly used in hospitals today and has prevented countless patients from bleeding to death. The lifesaving blood extender was created out of a “slimy bacterium,” Clete tells me, that wasn’t exactly drawn from the lab’s official collection of microbes. Another NCAUR scientist had shown the mold to Dr. Jeanes after spotting it inside a half-empty bottle of old root beer that someone, fortuitously,
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