Who else would try and find ways to stop severe bleeding? The U.S. Army, of course. Soldiers are mostly sent to far off places - far from proper medical facilities. Medics can only do so much and normal bandages sometimes aren't enough.

They finally found a way for this problem. And they found it in Icelandic crustaceans. Shrimps have polysaccharides in their exoskeletons called chitosan (a derivative of chitin) which proved to be very effective for dressing wounds. It is mucoadhesive as it gets sticky when drenched in blood.

According to Dr. John McManus of the Army's Combat Casualty Care, "The chitosan dressing has achieved over 97 percent success rates for external hemorrhage control in current combat operations."

The Army purchased around 400,000 bandages from HemCon, after testing a number of alternatives such as collagen sponges, fibrin bandages and nanoporous ceramic powder. The bandages are edible, though don't expect them to taste anything like seafood. They won't cause any allergic reactions on people with food allergies.

Sam Medical Products also has a chitosan-based product in powder form that stops bleeding. These products are perfect for areas far from medical facilities and high risk zones like construction sites.