A Bra that Might Save Your Life One Day

Photo: David Cook
Photo: David Cook

In this era of multi-tasking, we're confident that every morning when you put on your bra you ask yourself if that garment couldn't do more with its life than merely lift and separate. Well, someone has been on the case. The science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research just gave its annual Ig Nobel prize in public health (get it?) to the inventor of a brassiere that in an emergency can be transformed into a pair of gas masks.

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(Other prize-winning research for the year went to scientists who found ingenious uses for tequila and panda poop, and a phycisist who analyzed why pregnant women don't tip over.) The contest is tongue in cheek, but the inventions are real (at least in the sense that they actually have to work). The bra designer, for example, knows first hand that there are times when a gas mask can come in handy: she comes from the Ukraine and saw the effects of the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident in the 80s. Her bra includes two detachable filtered cups. We guess you're supposed to share one with the nearest male, at least until the invention of the atomic jock strap.

Related: How to build a lingerie wardrobe.

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