The bra that turns into gas masks for you and your pal

Oct 4 2009 by Paul Cole, Sunday Mercury

IT IS the fashion ‘must have’ for women living under the shadow of the War on Terror.

The bra that converts into GAS MASKS for you and your pal.

Dr Elena Bodnar has gone for bust with her invention, which has just won the Ig Nobel Public Health Prize.

The prizes are awarded annually for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think”.

At the awards ceremony last week in Harvard, first to try out the bra was Nobel Prize-winning physicist Wolfgang Ketterle.

Will they catch on here in the UK?

Bra fitting expert Amrit Varma, who runs thebradoctor.com in Erdington, Birmingham, said: “I’ve never heard of bras being used as gas masks before but I suppose if it works, then it’s a great idea.

“I reckon some people may think this is unhygenic. However, in the event of a terrorist attack, when you’re worried about your survival, you may not care about where your next breath is coming from.

“I can’t imagine many men complaining either!”

l Click on the Weird Science blog at www.sundaymercury.net for some of the bizarre Ig Nobel inventions.