I've considered using a non-newtonian fluid under the footstraps, to absorb the heel pressure from big jumps... say by making a molded footpad, which contains about 1cm thick fluid (maybe 2cm near the heals), moulded into "cells" say about 2cm in diameter.
ie: during normal riding, you get a nice soft foot pad with a liquid shock absorbtion -> during landings, the fluid becomes a solid.
They have a neat machine at Scitech with bean bag foam balls in it, that when you pass a sweepable low frequency signal through, form differant patterns and rythms depending on the selected freq. Kept me interested for a while. 
Er.. is it just me or did some of that vid look a bit kinky? 
Yep - probably just me..
