New bike helmet technology stinks when it is damaged
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials have come up with an ingenious way to tell you when your bicycle helmet has invisible cracks in it that make it no longer safe: make it smell so bad you want to throw up.
The idea here is elegant. Because bike helmets can become structurally weakened even if they are visibly fine, the Fraunhofer design contains smelly chemical capsules which are integrated into the helmet’s shell. Damage the plastic and the oils are then released.
Fraunhofer says the uses aren’t limited to bike helmets. Another idea they have is making damaged pipes release their chemicals, stinking up the joint.
As someone who once became a mangled mass of pulsating flesh and shattered bones in a bad biking accident, I approve strenuously. Better to have a helmet that stinks because its better safe than sorry than a helmet that stinks because its now full of your dashed out gray matter.
The idea here is elegant. Because bike helmets can become structurally weakened even if they are visibly fine, the Fraunhofer design contains smelly chemical capsules which are integrated into the helmet’s shell. Damage the plastic and the oils are then released.
Fraunhofer says the uses aren’t limited to bike helmets. Another idea they have is making damaged pipes release their chemicals, stinking up the joint.
As someone who once became a mangled mass of pulsating flesh and shattered bones in a bad biking accident, I approve strenuously. Better to have a helmet that stinks because its better safe than sorry than a helmet that stinks because its now full of your dashed out gray matter.
