Ed Sutt and his team at Stanley Bostitch have rethought the nail to improve the capabilities of buildings to withstand the effects of hurricanes and earthquakes. When Ed Sutton was a post-graduate student he discovered that the weak point in buildings constructed using wood was the nails that held them together.In 2000 after gaining his Phd he joined Stanley Bostitch and began working on the solution – the HurriQuake nail.
You can read about how Ed Sutt and his team developed the HurriQuake nail here.
Listen to an interview here.
And look at the technical details here.
Thanks to the invaluable 3Quarks for the tip off.