New Lung Function Discovered

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2017/03/406111/surprising-new-role-lungs-making-blood

"This finding definitely suggests a more sophisticated view of the lungs – that they’re not just for respiration but also a key partner in formation of crucial aspects of the blood,” said pulmonologist Mark R. Looney, MD, a professor of medicine and of laboratory medicine at UCSF and the new paper’s senior author. “What we’ve observed here in mice strongly suggests the lung may play a key role in blood formation in humans as well.”