A Helmet to Prevent Paralysis

Helmets have been used in everything from football and hockey to motorcycle riding are built to protect the head from impact. every year they get better at doing their job, but current helmets still do little to protect of spinal injuries that cause paralyze. But researchers at University of British Columbia in Vancouver are working on a design that could protect the spine during a head-on collision. when someone hits their head straight on flat the force goes through the skull and down to the neck, which cause their neck to crumple as it absorbs the brunt of the force. But taking a blow at angle cause the head to bounce off with out much damage.they have come up with a helmet they call they Pro-Neck-Tor which consists of a outer shell that looks like most helmets today with a rotating inner shell that hugs the head , and a mechanism that connects the two. This is so when taking a impact they outer layer takes the blow and move while that inner layer holds that head still. But when the helmet hits something with enough force, the inner mechanism releases, and the inner shell rotates, guiding the head as if it were hitting an angled surface instead of a flat one.

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24312/