 |
|
|
|||||
When it comes to designing a safer football helmet, Jason Neubauer knows what he’s up against. “You can make a very safe helmet that ranks No. 1 for performance,” he says. “But if the players don’t like the way they look in it, it really doesn’t matter. You’re not going to protect anyone.” What Neubauer and his team at Schutt Sports have built with the F7 Pro could be one of the safest helmets ever produced. It’s certainly one that players are gravitating toward. Since the F7 Pro launched this spring, it has become the fastest-adopted helmet in NFL history. While Aaron Rodgers may not be a fan, an All-Pro roster that includes Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, CeeDee Lamb, and Travis Hunter (the two-way star taken No. 2 overall in this year’s draft) will kick off the 2025 season donning the sleek F7 Pro, which earned a top-5 ranking in the NFL and NFL Players Associations rigorous 2025 helmet performance testing. New helmet models don’t really peak in their adoption rate until about the third year, Neubauer says. It takes a while for players to get comfortable with a new look. Neubauer has spent more than 25 years developing sporting goods, focusing on extreme sports before shifting to football helmet design in 2016. Hes one of the masterminds behind the F7 Pro, whose innovations fundamentally reimagine how helmets protect against the defining threats of modern footballthe high-speed collisions that make highlight reels, and the thousands of smaller impacts that accumulate over a career. [Photo: Schutt Sports] What the NFL does right The NFL has caught plenty of flak forwell, almost everything. But its historical approach to player safety is high on the list. Over the past decade, however, the league has done what any smart company does in the digital age: dive into data. To better understand how and when head and neck injuries occur, the NFL compiles detailed reports on every head and neck injury sustained in practice or games. The league tracks actual on-field impacts using sensors and cameras, documenting the speed, location, and type of every hit. This information is then shared with helmet manufacturers so engineers can discern what they’re building to protect against. This data-driven approach is working. Preseason concussions dropped by more than half from 2017 to 2024, from 91 to just 44. This granular data informed the F7 Pro’s overall design philosophy. The information showed not just where and how hits occur, but also the timing, force distribution, and frequency patterns that traditional helmet design hadnt accounted for. Armed with this data, Neubauer’s team could optimize protection at a fundamental levelrethinking everything from materials to architecture rather than just adding more padding. [Photo: Schutt Sports] F7 Pro innovation: 3D-printed lattice Traditional football helmets work like old-school steel car bumperssolid structures that conduct the full force of impact, transferring it to the passenger. The F7 Pro works more like a modern car bumper. Its outer shell uses a custom material blend designed to flex under impact, while a layer of 3D-printed lattice beneath the shell does the real work. Research from Tulane University’s physics department found that a large defensive lineman hitting a quarterback generates impact forces equivalent to a car hitting a brick wall at 18 to 20 mph. You’ve got two guys who are 220 pounds running at a very fast rate and hitting each other, Neubauer says. You can’t get rid of that energy, so you need to slow it down to the slowest rate you can to minimize the forces on the brain. The F7 Pros lattice does exactly that with a network of microscopic shock absorbers, each smaller than a pencil tip, all working together to distribute an impact across thousands of tiny columns that buckle and bend in controlled sequences. “The physical nature of buckling and bending is what’s slowing the impact down, so you don’t feel all the force at once, but you feel it over that offset distance, Neubauer explains. Instead of each hit unfolding as one blunt force, the impact is more like a controlled demolition. [Photo: Schutt Sports] F7 Pro appeal: Lighter, sleeker, safer By using 3D printing to integrate various functional elements into a unified design, the lattice eliminated eight separate plastic components that traditional helmets required. The result is a seamless design that is lighter on players’ necks while enhancing protection, something traditional manufacturing couldn’t achieve. Schutt developed its lattice technology in-house rather than licensing existing solutions. Out there in the world right now, there are quite a few different lattice technologies that companies could choose from, Neubauer says. It’s literally like a drop-down menu. That would have been a lot easier for us to do. But we found that we were able to get a better-performing, lighter-weight result by doing it ourselves. Weight reduction is critical because players’ heads and necks endure thousands of impacts over a season, and every ounce of helmet weight adds to fatigue and long-term neck strain. But it also allows for a sleeker profile, addressing something equally important: The helmet looks damn good. Players have to want to wear it, and when stars like Jefferson and Chase sport the low-profile design in prime time, other players notice. It’s functional vanity at its finestsafety technology that doesn’t make you look like you’re wearing a fishbowl. [Photo: Schutt Sports] A new era of customization In 2021, helmet manufacturer Viciswhich had been acquired by Certor Sports, Schutt’s parent companyintroduced the first position-specific helmet, the Trench model, designed for linemen. It focuses on protecting against the thousands of smaller hits that accumulate from play after play in the trenches. Schutt followed up with quarterback models that prioritize back-of-head protection because quarterbacks are frequently slammed to the turf when sacked and can’t brace themselves. The F7 Pro’s variants optimize protection based on real impact data. And as the data gets more intuitive, new position-specific helmets will likely enter the market, with Schutt and Vicis leading the way. Its OctoFit system lets players customize foam pod combinations based on their unique head shapes. So a process that once required custom ordering and waiting for delivery now occurs in the locker room in real time. Its AiR-Lock system is activated by a small push button located on the back of the helmet. Remember the old Reebok Pumps? The AiR-Lock is similar. Players can pump their helmets up for a tighter game fit, then release pressure to be more comfortable in practice or during walk-throughs, adjusting helmet security without using tools or having to leave the field. This combination of position-specific protection with real-time fit adjustment represents where helmet design is heading: equipment that adapts to how players get hit based on how they experience the game, while catering to their individual comfort preferences. The future of protection Virginia Tech has an independent helmet testing lab that serves as the industry’s safety standard, evaluating helmets and assigning star ratings that guide consumers. When the university updated its protocols in July 2025, 77% of helmets that previously received five-star ratings were downgraded (from 26 to just 6), signaling that safety standards are evolving at every level. And as the NFL helmets evolve, high school and youth gear will follow. Schutt is partnering with national youth and varsity organizations to gather impact data similar to what the NFL provides, studying how younger players get hit and what protection works best for developing bodies. “The types of impacts that kids aged 8 take are very different from an NFL athlete,” Jeremy Erspamer, CEO of Certor Sports, says. “And we as helmet manufacturers need to understand that and develop technologies that specifically keep players at each level safe.” Schutt is set to launch a new youth helmet this fall, according to Erspamer, which will also be five-star rated. The number of concussions in the NFL decreased 17% from 2023 to 2024, reaching a historic low last season, while preseason concussions fell more than 50% from 2017 to 2024. The F7 promises to continue that momentum in 2025 toward a safer game for players at all levels. We believe it’s the best helmet out there at the elite level, Erspamer says. But what we also know is that in three years, we’re going to have even better technology. So we’re excited about where we are, but we’re even more excited about where we continue to go.
Category:
E-Commerce
AI skeptics have found a new way to express their disdain for the creeping presence of artificial intelligence: through slurs. Out on the streets and in stores, people have begun harassing robots they encounter in the wild. (Anyone else feel a bit sorry for the robot?) Online, the internet has revived a Star Warsinspired insult, clanker, with Google Trends data showing a spike in searches for the term in early June. @semdenpriv original sound – semdenpriv POV: Me at the clanker rally in 2088, one TikTok user joked. Keep your oily soulless clanker hands away from my delicious human food, another X user wrote in response to a clip of Elon Musks Optimus robot dishing out popcorn at the Tesla Diner (not a sentence I ever thought Id write). Keep your oily soulless clanker hands away from my delicious human food https://t.co/DXF7JNKD0W— EckhartsLadder (@EckhartsLadder) July 20, 2025 The term has also been picked up by politicians. Sick of yelling ‘REPRESENTATIVE’ into the phone 10 times just to talk to a human being? Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) posted on X last month. My new bill makes sure you dont have to talk to a clanker if you dont want to. Sick of yelling REPRESENTATIVE into the phone 10 times just to talk to a human being? My new bill makes sure you dont have to talk to a clanker if you dont want to. pic.twitter.com/9aUv478gSP— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) July 30, 2025 While some direct their insults at the technology itself, others target those using AI systems. On one thread, suggestions for users of the xAI chatbot Grok included Grokkers, Groklins, and Grocksuckers. Meanwhile, on TikTok, someone coined sloppers for people becoming increasingly overreliant on ChatGPT. @intrnetbf shoutout to Monica. Incredible command over the English language original sound – intrnetbf The trend reflects a broader mood. Concerns about AI among U.S. adults have grown since 2021, according to the Pew Research Center. More than half (51%) say they are more concerned than excited about the technologys rise, with worries ranging from AI taking away jobs to chatbot addiction. Still, some see embracing new slurseven those aimed at robotsas problematic, especially when they echo existing racial slurs or stereotypes. @thebrookboys This bout to be the biggest fear for all Dads in year 2050 #meme #clanker #robo Bell Sound/Temple/Gone/About 10 minutes(846892) – yulu-ism project Others simply fear theyll regret their words later. As one X user wrote: I dont want to have to look a robot in the eye in fifty years and be like, you dont understand it was a different time star wars did give us a slur for robots (clankers) but i dont use it bc i dont want to have to look a robot in the eye in fifty years and be like you dont understand it was a different time— anna !!! (@frogs4girls) July 20, 2025
Category:
E-Commerce
In the late 2010s, cultured meat was everywhereand yet nowhere. From Reddit to major magazine covers, articles touted the latest advances in “lab-grown meat,” promising cruelty-free, environmentally friendly steaks at your local supermarket. The hype was palpable. One 2019 report predicted cultured meats would halve the number of cows on the planet by 2030, disrupting the world’s oldest industry by delivering ethical meat with negligible environmental impact that tasted identical to traditional meatand at a fraction of the price. [Photo: Vow] That promise of rapid disruption terrified conventional animal agriculture stakeholders. Under pressure from these livestock constituents, lawmakers in multiple states have banned this new protein source entirely. Florida and Alabama passed bans in 2024, with more states following. Indiana imposed a manufacturing moratorium with steep fines, Nebraska prohibited its production and sale, and Montanas governor signed legislation to ensure consumers could “continue to enjoy authentic meat.” In June, a Texas ban became law, with the state’s agriculture commissioner touting the “God-given right” to pasture-raised meateven though the vast majority of what Americans eat comes from industrial feedlots. But here’s the irony: Lawmakers are fighting a version of cultured meat that never materialized. Today, while you can eat cultured meat at more than 60 venues in Singapore and Australia, and cultured seafood at two restaurants in the U.S. at the time of this writing, it’s far from the rapid disruption that was forecasted. More than a decade after the world’s first cultured hamburger was announced, the hype has virtually disappeared.The reality of how and why this all transpired is complicated. However, we would argue that what we’re witnessing isn’t industry failure, but the natural evolution of a transformative invention finding its true market fit. Cultured meat technology works; what needed adjustment were the timelines and business models that promised too much, too quickly, and to replicate conventional meats that people already enjoy en masse.Rather than viewing this as a setback, some in the industry are discovering something potentially more valuable: sustainable, scalable pathways to market that don’t require displacing existing agriculture but can grow alongside it. As the industry turns the page to a new chapter, once uncertain regulatory pathways are now established in multiple countries. [Photo: Vow] The technology itself continues to advance. Production yields are improving, costs are declining, and new species beyond traditional livestock are proving viable for cultivation.More importantly, early market success demonstrates genuine consumer appetite. In Singapore, where cultured meat has been available the longest, restaurants report strong repeat customers and growing demand. In Australia, where cultured meat became available at dozens of restaurants in recent weeks, initial sales and demand for the items are taking off. Forged Cultured Japanese Quail Whipped Pate [Photo: Vow] This suggests cultured meat purveyors arent just scratching a theoretical itch, but delivering real value and excitement that consumers recognize and seek out.This reality is leading to a strategic pivot that may actually benefit both the industry and consumers: innovation over imitation. Rather than trying to perfectly replicate a chicken wing or rib-eye steakproducts that traditional animal agriculture already produces and consumers are accustomed tocompanies that are finding success are creating entirely new culinary experiences that excite chefs and diners alike. Forged Cultured Japanese Quail Foie Gras [Photo: Vow] Take Japanese quail, a species that demonstrates cultivated meat’s unique advantages. Traditional quail foie gras is impossible to produce commerciallythe birds are so petite that conventional methods are prohibitively labor-intensive, and the production process itself remains controversial. Japanese quail, however, proves remarkably well-suited for cultivation technology, enabling the creation of previously undoable delicacies like foie gras, whipped pâté, and even edible tallow candles. Forged Cultured Japanese Quail Tallow Candle [Photo: Vow] And Vow can make a lot of it. The company recently completed the largest cultured meat harvest in history: more than one metric ton of quail. And it projects it will have the capacity, by the end of 2025, to harvest up to 130 metric tons annually. While that’s still minimal compared with the 12.29 million metric tons of beef American farmers produced in 2023 and 2024, it is proof that cultured meat can offer consumers genuinely new choices and advance consumer acceptance. Its an illustration of how the industry can position itself as expanding culinary possibilities while avoiding potential conflicts with traditional agriculture.Rather than letting politicians dictate what should be on our plates in order to protect incumbent industries, we should trust consumers to decide for themselves. When given the freedom to choose, consumers are embracing these innovations as exciting additions to culinary experiences, the evidence suggests. Thats a decision best left to diners, not lawmakers.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||