Military

Researchers Find a Flaw in Modern Military Helmets

In a new paper, researchers compare 100-year-old military helmet technology to what soldiers use today, and the results may surprise you. These researchers wanted to study how helmets endure primary blast neurotrauma, which is a little-considered aspect to what helmets can do to protect soldiers.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) hosts a 1986 paper that defines the levels of blast injury:
“Injury from explosion may be due to the direct cussive effect of the blast wave (primary), being struck by material propelled by the blast (secondary), to whole-body displacement and impact (tertiary), or to miscellaneous effects from burns, toxic acids, and so on. Severe primary blast injury is most likely to be seen in military operations but can occur in civilian industrial accidents or terrorist actions.”

Essentially, primary blast is the force of the explosion itself doing things like banging your brain against the sides of your skull. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says primary blast force most directly affects a surprising kind of body structure: “Gas filled structures are most susceptible—lungs, GI tract, and middle ear.” A condition called blast lung is the most harmful primary blast injury, the CDC says, but concussive brain injury is still a big deal.