This portable plastic splint takes up a tiny space in a backpack but brings big relief, holding a broken limb together long enough to get medical help and providing soothing warmth in the meantime. The special plastic fuses itself together in about five minutes using the same chemical-reactive heat technology used in hand warmers.

Aimed at extreme sports enthusiasts such as snowboarders and skiers, the technology could offer a bit of comfort to those 450,000 wracked-up snow sports adventurers who are injured each year, many of whom sometimes have a long wait until they can get patched up in a proper hospital.

This idea might be great for ski patrol personnel to carry around, but what extreme sports participant would take along splints for broken bones? It could jinx the whole trip, dude. – Charlie White

Soft splint instantly heat-welds to hold broken limbs [NewScientistTech]

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