Latest news with #ChongqingJiaotongUniversity
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
What's the safest helmet?
The science is clear: helmets save lives and reduce the risk of traumatic brain injuries. But picking the best helmet for a specific sport can get tricky, with so many different designs and materials to choose from. Take the game of cricket, for example. Its rules may be complex, but the risks are straightforward. A team's bowler hurls a leather covered, hard cork ball towards the opposing batter at speeds averaging 80 mph, while successful hits send the projectile towards a field of 10 other players. While not particularly popular in most of the United States yet, it remains one of the world's most watched competitive sports. The most recent Cricket World Cup held in 2023 set multiple broadcasting records, with an estimated 518 million people in India alone watching on TV. Factor in all the people playing on amateur, school, and minor league teams, and that adds up to plenty of chances for disastrous head injuries without the proper protection. So what helmet works best, and why? According to a research team at China's Chongqing Jiaotong University, the answer is clear after enlisting the help of computational simulations–but it still likely depends on your skill level. Their findings were published on July 15 in the journal AIP Advances. Researchers focused on helmets constructed with three types of materials—a strong plastic called Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), aluminum composites, and fiberglass alloys. While pricier helmets are often constructed from aluminum composites and fiberglass alloys, those made from strong plastics like Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) and other polymers tend to be more popular. 'These materials are not only light, but also have high energy absorption characteristics,' study co-author Tao Wang explained in a statement. That doesn't mean they are necessarily the best choice, however. To determine their performance comparisons, Wang and colleagues designed a virtual testing program based on precisely measured models of not just each helmet's geometry, but the cranial structure they are designed to protect. They then ran multiple simulations to monitor how a cricket ball's impact against each helmet variant distributed stress and strain across and into cerebral tissue. After analyzing the data, Wang's team determined that a player's best selection frequently depends on their level of play. When it comes to training or recreational sports, ABS helmets are often sufficient protection. However, that changes for more experienced players and professional athletes. Once reaching that elite status, the safer options are fiberglass or aluminum. While the latter is more brittle, it's better at evenly distributing stress across the head's surface, lowering the risk of traumatic injury. Wang cautioned that these model-driven rules don't necessarily translate across every sport beyond cricket. It's vital that coaches, players, and helmet designers factor in their specific game's various possibilities, such as a ball's interaction with gravity, rebound potential, angle, and more. 'Each sport should be checked individually, because loading conditions are different in different sports,' Wang said. Despite this, the study reinforces the importance of continued research into helmet improvements and sports-related injuries. Meanwhile, when it comes to selecting protection before heading out onto a field, one rule remains constant: almost any helmet is better than nothing.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
New study could help reduce number of sports-related head injuries - and deaths from catastrophic impacts
Korean experts have pinpointed how to make the best sport helmet for protecting athletes' brains. Head injuries are a common risk in many sports, from cricket, rugby, football and roller derby to name a few. Some studies suggest up to 40 per cent of athletes will suffer an injury over a year's worth of training and competing. In sports like cricket the risk can rise to 70 per cent, with just over one in 10 of these injuries to critical areas like the head, neck and face mainly due to a hard ball launched at high speeds from bowler to batsman The consequences of such injuries can be devastating. Aussie cricketer Phillip Hughes, 25, was famously killed in 2014 after a devastating head injury delivered by a bouncer bowled by Sean Abbott. He was later confirmed to have died from a vertebral artery dissection, a tear in one of the arteries in the neck that feeds the brainstem oxygen rich blood. Such an injury carries the risk of causing a stroke. Now, a team of researchers have come up with a way to assess the best helmet material to reduce serious head injuries. Scientists from Chongqing Jiaotong University alongside Chongqing No. 7 Middle School, analysed the performance of three different helmet materials. These were a strong plastic called Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), fibreglass alloys, and aluminium composites. Using computer simulations, the team made digital copies of helmets made from each material. These digital helmets were then put through a variety of computerised impact scenarios based on cricket with the team analysing how well they protected a simulated human head and brain within. They found that for training and at a recreational level an ABS helmet provided sufficient protection. However, at an elite level—where balls travel at a faster, and therefore more dangerous, speed—fibreglass or aluminium alloys performed better. They added while either of these had its advantages, they noted that fibreglass being more brittle than aluminium gave it an advantage as it distributed the stress of an impact across its entire surface, lowering the risk of a traumatic injury. Author of the study, which was published in the journal AIP Advances, Tao Wang said while the results are interesting they are not universal to every sport which each have their unique stresses. 'Each sport should be checked individually, because loading conditions are different in different sports,' he said. Government data suggests there are about 6,500 sports related concussion admissions to hospitals in England per year. The issue of head injuries in sport has come under increasing focus in recent years due to fears that repeated blows could increase the risk of dementia. A 2023 study commissioned by the Football Association and Professional Footballers' Association, found professional footballers have triple the likelihood of being diagnosed with dementia than the general population. However, subsequent studies have found this isn't likely to be a risk for amateur players. In fact, playing sport was found to be protective against dementia most likely due to regularly doing exercise a known factor that protects against the memory robbing disorder.
New Straits Times
25-05-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
Malaysia, China ink deal to boost palm oil supply chain in western China
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and China have signed a strategic agreement to develop a palm oil supply chain in western China, expanding green industry cooperation between the two countries. The memorandum of understanding between the Malaysian Palm Oil Board and China's New Land-Sea Corridor Operation Co Ltd will fast-track logistics and trade via the Qinzhou Port-Chongqing route. The corridor links Malaysia to inland provinces such as Sichuan, Guizhou and Shaanxi. Plantation and Commodities Deputy Minister Datuk Chan Foong Hin said the pact supports a more sustainable and efficient palm oil network. "Malaysia is eager to leverage its Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil certification, one of the world's highest sustainability standards, to deepen institutional linkages with China in areas such as carbon labelling, biofuels and green materials," he said in a statement. Chan led the Malaysian delegation to the China-Malaysia Industry Cooperation Dialogue, held on the sidelines of the 7th Western China International Fair for Investment and Trade. The event brought together over 40 firms from the food processing, personal care and oil refining sectors for targeted business discussions. The focus was on boosting industrial uses of palm oil in the Sichuan-Chongqing region. Malaysia is also collaborating with Chongqing Jiaotong University to develop palm oil-based polyurethane acrylate for anticorrosive coatings. The effort is part of a broader push to expand palm-derived chemicals in China's industrial applications. Other initiatives include promoting high-value palm products such as red palm oil, palm stearin and palm-based ice cream powder. Joint research and development projects are underway with Chinese firms to incorporate these derivatives into hotpot soup bases, snacks and sustainable personal care goods.
