Are today’s military helmets better at preventing brain injury? Not always, study says

Your great-grandfather’s World War I helmet that’s stuffed in the back of the closet could be just as effective at preventing brain injury from some blasts as a modern-day military helmet, a recently published study from Duke University researchers suggests.

The study is narrow in scope, looking only at effects from overhead explosions — a fact the researchers are first to admit. But it still raises questions about why today’s military helmet designs are not markedly better at protecting against certain kinds of shockwaves than those used more than 100 years ago.

Read the full story and more in PBS NewsHour.