Such skin absorption occurs in other mammals, and the leathery look of elephant skin is deceptive it actually has a rich blood supply.

ECONOMIST: Elementary elephant control

Dr. Velmahos said the hospital from its janitors to highest management had prepared for such an event, with ample blood supply and materials for an influx of near-death patients.

WSJ: At Boston Hospitals, An Ordinary Day Turns to Pandemonium

The participants in Dr Bolli's study were 23 unfortunates who had each had at least one heart attack in the past, and were thus lined up for coronary-bypass surgery, in which the furred-up blood supply to the heart is replaced with an alternative artery crafted from a blood vessel taken from elsewhere usually the leg.

ECONOMIST: Stem cells and medicine: Repairing broken hearts | The

Topping up the supply of healing fluid might be done by mimicking another biological system the network of blood capillaries that supplies living tissues with the stuff they need to thrive.

ECONOMIST: Monitor