What will football helmets look like in the future? Berkeley scientists may have the answer

Tucked away in an unassuming cluster of warehouses on Richmond’s industrial west side, Dr. Robert Knight spends his days cracking heads.

Figuratively speaking, of course.

His laboratory houses a number of scary-looking contraptions, simulating gruesome impacts to the human cranium. Steel weights drop through the air, pounding plastic dummies in the noggin. A pendulum device smashes the helpless mannequins into simulated turf. Urgent alarms sound ahead of each smashing collision.

What’s the good doctor up to?

The UC Berkeley neuroscientist believes he and his business partners have developed a game-changing helmet design that could revolutionize not only football, but other sports that cause brain trauma, like hockey or cycling.