Sometimes big ideas come from small, unexpected places. Products like Velcro and Teflon coating came about as results of happy accidents rather than direct research. Along those lines, a team studying the vibrations inside football helmets could contribute to a safer future in the sport. … Then with the helmets on side-by-side pendulums, they let them fly, smashing one into the other and measuring the vibrations of the helmet, “skull” and “brain” with accelerometers.
