Smart Foam Detects Concussion Risk

Smart Foam Detects Concussion Risk

Top of Mind with Julie Rose - Radio Archive, Episode 656 , Segment 2

Episode: Catalan Independence, Smart Helmet, Improv Children's Theater

  • Oct 9, 2017 11:00 pm
  • 16:41 mins

Guest: Jake Merrell, President, XOnano Smartfoam, Mechanical Engineering student, Brigham Young University A few weeks ago, researchers at Boston University announced they may have found a way to detect the degenerative disease CTE in football players while they’re still alive, which is a big deal because right now the only way to know if someone has it is by slicing up their brain after death. Which is obviously way too late to help the player. The focus on preventing concussion in football may also be of limited help in preventing CTE, because the latest science suggests it’s not those big bell-ringers that are the main culprit. Rather, it’s a lifetime of repetitive hits to the head that don’t even register as a problem for the player or coaches on the sideline.  But now those hits can register on the sidelines, if the player is wearing a helmet outfitted with sensors developed at BYU.

Other Segments

From the Vaults: The History of the Charity Bazaar

17 MINS

Guest: Leslee Thorne-Murphy, Associate Professor of English at BYU, Co-Editor of the forthcoming “Philanthropic Discourse in Anglo-American Literature, 1850-1920,” Curator of “Welcome to our Charity Bazaar,” an exhibit in the Harold B. Lee Library, runs through June 2018.  Soon the holiday bazaars will begin – you’ll be able to get handmade tree ornaments and jewelry, plus artisan jams and honey - all a bit overpriced, to be sure. But it’s usually for a good cause. The charity bazaar has a great origin story we’re going to explore for this month’s installment of From the Vaults—where we go inside the BYU library’s Special Collection. The library is currently hosting an exhibit called “Welcome to our Charity Bazaar,” and we’ve invited one of its curators to join us in studio.

Guest: Leslee Thorne-Murphy, Associate Professor of English at BYU, Co-Editor of the forthcoming “Philanthropic Discourse in Anglo-American Literature, 1850-1920,” Curator of “Welcome to our Charity Bazaar,” an exhibit in the Harold B. Lee Library, runs through June 2018.  Soon the holiday bazaars will begin – you’ll be able to get handmade tree ornaments and jewelry, plus artisan jams and honey - all a bit overpriced, to be sure. But it’s usually for a good cause. The charity bazaar has a great origin story we’re going to explore for this month’s installment of From the Vaults—where we go inside the BYU library’s Special Collection. The library is currently hosting an exhibit called “Welcome to our Charity Bazaar,” and we’ve invited one of its curators to join us in studio.