i need a coconut, stat

today i learned that during WWII, the water from young coconuts was used in the pacific as a substitute for blood plasma.

weird, right?

instead of going home to our house in reading today, i had to instead head on over to audubon, where i will be spending the next two nights with my very accommodating parents so that i have easier access to philly, where i will be attending a conference on friday and saturday. this is relevant because as i was sitting on the sofa finishing up my internet rounds (including a few emails and a facebook post) i wondered out loud what i had learned today as i mentally prepped myself for this entry. before i had a chance to form any kind of intelligent thought about the matter, my little bro piped up. "i learned two cool things today- want to hear them?" he says. of course i said yes, i like learning weird new facts. first he throws at me is the '"the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" has every letter in the alphabet' fact. i've known that since first grade. but then he whips out this little gem- "young coconut milk can be used a substitute for blood plasma". so of course, i ask what his source is. ever heard of cha-cha? you can text them any question at all (for free), and someone will reply with an answer (usually correct). so, out of boredom, he asked them "tell me the most interesting fact in the world" (twice). and those are the answers he got.

personally, i think the coconut thing is more interesting than the alphabet thing. but anyway.

i was intrigued. time for google to shed some light. after conducting a few differently phrased searches, i learned that the water from a young coconut (not coconut "milk", which is made from the ground up flesh of the coconut) was in fact used as a substitute for blood for wounded soldiers during WWII when blood supplies were few and far between. it worked well for this purpose because of it's level of electrolytes and it's sterility, and the fact that it doesn't destroy red blood cells. it's not ideal, for sure, but it will work. i also read that it's great for rehydration, and, if one of your teeth falls out, it will help keep it from rotting away as you rush to the dentist.

so the next time i go to a blood drive and my iron is too low, i'm going to give them a coconut and my apologies. maybe i'll start a trend.