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Army Research Lab Develops Concussion-Reducing Helmet Straps for the NFL

The United States Army Research Laboratory has been working to develop concussion-reducing technology to be used by the NFL and service members alike. In footage released on February 4, Dr Eric Wetzel, a research scientist with the Army Research Lab, demonstrates the new technology, which consists of a number of speed-dependent elastic straps attached to a helmet, essentially tethering the head to the body.

“If we could tether the head to the body, so that in these backwards falling situations the head starts to whip rearward, the straps kind of detect that there’s a violent action happening and they pull on the head and slow it down, like a shock absorber,” he says in the video. Credit: YouTube/DoD News