US, Canadian Olympic skiers get skintight armor

Some American and Canadian skiers competing in the Olympics have a secret weapon: a flexible form of "body armor" that's molded to the shape of their bodies and hardens on impact. The material, known as d3o, and developed by scientists working with skiwear maker Spyder, contains a proprietary polymer that has "strain rate flexibility." While normally flexible, sudden impact hardens the molecules of the material, making it as protective as the traditional arm and leg guards worn in slalom runs. The developers envision expanding d30's uses to other purposes, including protection for military and police personnel. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have any plans for a material that can protect Bode Miller from himself.

[diulei @ Feb 14th 2006 3:21PM]

Freakin sweet! I wonder how much a suit like this costs, I can't see it being less than cheap car.

[Seamus Bartlett @ Feb 14th 2006 3:26PM]

Wow. Bode Miller. Impressively obscure joke. *clap*

[CajunLuke @ Feb 14th 2006 3:27PM]

They have this in Larry Niven's _Ringworld Engineers_ book. There, it's pretty cool. I love when technology follows fiction.

[Dissent @ Feb 14th 2006 3:30PM]

Whoa. They have a website? I want some.

[jmchez @ Feb 14th 2006 3:30PM]

Hey, isn't this what Batman's armor is made of?

Bode should forget about future Nike riches. That stupid ad of his in which he says you have thirty seconds to go or not go to his web site and read it or not is the most obnoxious I've seen in a while.

[Ian Jardine @ Feb 14th 2006 3:30PM]

See MS can move quickly if motivated.....

[MrHoju @ Feb 14th 2006 3:34PM]

Well normal GS suits (the ones that you see all the races wear) go anywhere from mid 200's to over 500 hundered depending on brand and material.

As for the ones the world's elite wear... good question since they are probably customer fitted for their exact body dimensions.

Still... if Sypder could price this 'around' the same as a new GS suit, plus shin guards (which are not cheap) or any other armor it is supposedly replacing... I could see a lot of people buying it.

[jiggs @ Feb 14th 2006 3:50PM]

"Unfortunately, they don't seem to have any plans for a material that can protect Bode Miller from himself."

Ouch.

[Glancing Aft @ Feb 14th 2006 3:52PM]

Bode's the man, he'll win gold by the end of the Olympics...

[Joe @ Feb 14th 2006 3:57PM]

"Bode's the man, he'll win gold by the end of the Olympics..."

Or not as it turns out

[Glancing Aft @ Feb 14th 2006 4:15PM]

Well I'll admit the downhill was an upset, and I think combine is a lame event... At least he still has three more races to straighten himself out...

[austinkennethlee @ Feb 14th 2006 4:33PM]

I can see the application for GS/SG/DH, but SL will still probably require external armor, at least on the consumer level (gate-bashing will rip the heck out of speed suits).

What would be awesome is if this technology makes its way over to motorcycle gear.

[Jason @ Feb 14th 2006 4:36PM]

Bode is a Jackass. The guy's been given the world on a platter and goofs it up by going out and partying and skiing drunk half the time, I mean seriously, isn't there enough time to party when it's NOT the olympics? Hopefully he's gone and forgotten before the NEXT olympics.

On topic comment, I'd love to see this impact armor stuff make it into motorcycle garb. Could make for some really nice light weight stuff that still supplied some real protection from low speed crashes.

[Mark S. @ Feb 14th 2006 4:47PM]

There was a Super Bowl commercial that had a guy falling off of a billboard, and airbags expanded all over him before he hit the ground.

Maybe we're not that far off of that after all.

[Blake @ Feb 14th 2006 4:51PM]

"making it as protective as the traditional arm and leg guards worn in slalom runs." Wrong. In a recent article in "Popular Science," "It doesn't protect you as much as a hard helmet" - Jurg Ramseier, developer of the first d30 cap.

[Tony @ Feb 14th 2006 4:53PM]

"Unfortunately, they don't seem to have any plans for a material that can protect Bode Miller from himself."

That has already been invented. It's called a muzzle. :)

[KaiBeezy @ Feb 14th 2006 4:58PM]

.
Point of literary reference (so obvious, I won't bother to mention):
.
"His uniform is black as activated charcoal, filtering the very light out of the air. A bullet will bounce off its arachnofiber weave like a wren hitting a patio door, but excess perspiration wafts through it like a breeze through a freshly napalmed forest. Where his body has bony extremities, the suit has sintered armorgel: feels like gritty jello, protects like a stack of telephone books."
.

[Osiris @ Feb 14th 2006 5:09PM]

Isn't that the same behaviour as custard?

I've heard of a court case where a man was accused of murder with a bag of custard and was aqquited.
The custard hardens when met with a sudden impact.. enough to kill someone.

Also like you can run across a pool of custard.

I know too much about custard.

[Daniel Cheung @ Feb 14th 2006 5:51PM]

Same effect can be seen in corn starch.

I remember a 8 or 9 years back a science TV show talking about new tech mentioned the research into how corn starch has very interesting molecular properties.

I guess this research now has its fruits!

[Kyle @ Feb 14th 2006 9:17PM]

Ah, that would be ublik / ooblick / oobleck (a Dr. Seuss reference).

Pours like a liquid, but hit it with hammer and it solidfies, a favourite hands-on at the local science centre.

[evo @ Feb 14th 2006 9:28PM]

As #18 said, cornstarch with water can be made into what's called a "dilatant" mixture--in the proper ratio, the mixture changes from liquid to solid when pressure is applied. Cool stuff to play with.

[Rohit @ Feb 14th 2006 11:23PM]

Interesting. So we protect our athletes better than we do our soldiers...

[Shane Todd @ Feb 14th 2006 11:27PM]

A more important question: when can I get this in my motorcycle riding gear? The back, shoulder and elbow armor in my current jacket feels claustrophobic. Not to mention the full face helmet, boots, and leg guards.

[Shane Todd @ Feb 14th 2006 11:35PM]

Just to clarify, my question is not as important as number 22. That one wasn't up when I started typing.

[Phi @ Feb 14th 2006 11:56PM]

This would make great nerd-clothing. No more beatings from the bullies.

[Carvalhinho @ Feb 15th 2006 6:43AM]

This will be great when used in motorcycling...the first "Airbag" for motorbikes

[Adam Lein @ Feb 15th 2006 8:29AM]

Wouldn't it be more useful if it hardened BEFORE sudden impact?

[lohgan @ Feb 15th 2006 11:25AM]

Look up "non-Newtonian fluid". Cornstarch and water is a great example, good call. I used to play with that as a kid. Cool stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Newtonian_fluid

[dutch @ Feb 16th 2006 2:39PM]

i propose we build that material into the crotch of every pair of men's pants sold from this day forward!!!