 Army researchers are studying the physiological effects of blast pressure on the brain in order to discover technology solutions to protect soldiers. In order to develop, for example, the headgear or the helmet that would really cut down the effect of the blast pressure, we have to understand how much blast pressure really damages the brain and how much blast pressure is experienced at the cellular level or inside the brain. Scientists at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, searched for a gel substance that mimics the texture and mass of the human brain. So we tried to mix it into the gel and this is what happened. Created some strange bubbles and aggregates. Researcher Niall Bunce explains the process she and her fellow researcher Rebecca Jimenez went through to find a solution that worked. So it was more a trial and error, this doesn't work, let's move to the next thing. And so we got a nice dispersion of sample into our gels and that's what we've been going with so far. The team infused the gel samples with fluorescent properties to show the scale of damage under pressure. And when we put it into the gel, since our nanoclusters are pressure sensitive, so we apply a pressure and then the fluorescence intensity will either increase or decrease depending on the increase or decrease in pressure. Over the past two years, the laboratory has built a partnership with the Japanese Ministry of Defense. In December 2016, Japanese medical researchers visited Maryland for an update. This is extremely important for us, for the Army Research Laboratory provides the technology that enables the soldier to function in the battlefield, provides the best lethality, best protection. Karna said the Japanese team will test the Army's samples with a laser-induced shockwave and share the results of the experiment. He said they hope to further understand the effects of blast pressure on the brain and help to protect future soldiers. For ARL TV, I'm David McNally.