It’s a sinking feeling: You’re showing off your brand-new smartphone when it slips out of your grip and falls to the concrete sidewalk below. This doesn’t have to be the end of your treasured smartphone though, not if you’ve acquired one of the newest cases — which have science backing them — designed to protect smartphones from surprise falls.

Science of protection

The New York Times’ Gadgetwise column recently focused on a new era of protective cases created for smartphones. According to the Times, these new cases do a far better job of padding smartphones.

D30

The Gadgetwise column focuses on London’s Tech21. The company has invented a polymer, named D30 that it injects inside its protective cases. This polymer soaks up and redistributes the force of a fall or bang, protecting the phones they surround.

Peace of mind

Are Tech21′s cases a shrewd investment? Probably. According to the Times, the company’s Impact Band case costs $30, while its higher-end Impact Mesh case retails for $35. That’s not much coin for reassurance.