Lazer's new Superskin helmet

Motorcyclists and scooterists in Australia have to wear helmets when they ride, or face hefty fines and potential injury. Sure, a helmet can ruin your hair and cheap ones will leave black dye on your cheeks when you sweat, but overall they're lifesavers, right?

Well, not always.

Intracerebral shearing, or rotational injury as it's known to non-medico nerds, is one of the lesser known injuries that sometimes occurs during head-to-road collisions of helmet wearers. Intracerebral shearing happens when the head is rotated extremely rapidly -- usually as the helmet catches the road after a tumble -- and can sever blood vessels and nerves (neurological lesions and subdural haematoma), in the worst cases resulting in casualty or even fatality.

Whether this is scaremongering to promote its new helmet or something we should all be aware of, Belgian company Lazer Helmets has nevertheless released SuperSkin on three of its products, a technology which has been scientifically tested to reduce rotational injury by two-thirds.

This new SuperSkin technology aims to mimic real human skin by stretching an elastic film over the helmets surface. There is also a lubricating gel that is sandwiched between the outer skin and the helmet's shell, all of which has been based on how human skin moves over the skull.

Independent tests by the Louis Pasteur University of Strasbourg show that when a helmet with SuperSkin hits the road, instead of catching the road surface and instantly twisting the skull, the skin-like membrane takes the initial shock and can reduce intracerebral shearing by 67.5 per cent.

The SuperSkin technology was developed by a British-based company, Philips Helmets (now been licensed by Lazer Helmets), which spent 15 years developing the technology. SuperSkin's principal designer, Dr. Ken Philips, hopes the technology will filter its way onto other helmets for cyclists and other sports.