Gas Mask Bra Wins Ig Nobel prize

October 12, 2009

The Ig Nobel Prizes are a parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October for ten achievements. The aim of the awards is to honour achievements that "first make people laugh and then make them think".

The Public Health prize went to Dr. Elena Bodnar of Hinsdale, Illinois and colleagues who designed and patented a bra that can be quickly converted into a pair of gas masks, one for the brassiere wearer and one to be given to some needy bystander.

Funny idea, but imagine you suddenly need to use the bra gas mask while walking on the street because of some disaster, then imagine all the women taking off their bras at the same time, that would be something to remember.

Other winners included farmers who showed that naming your cows makes them give more milk in a study by Newcastle University, researchers who used panda droppings to break down household trash and a scientist who calculated why pregnant women do not fall over.