My husband is fond of saying that the best place for sexy lingerie is on the rack at Victoria’s Secret. He has never understood the need for satin and lace or garters and fishnet stockings. To him, underwear is a functional necessity not a stimulant. While I respect his views, I do like the look and feel of intimate apparel against my skin.
In 2009. Ukrainian inventor Dr. Elena Bodnar won the Ig Noble Award in Public Health for creating a bra that combined Mike’s functionality mentality and my need to “boost” my ego.
Dr. Bodnar holds the patent for the Emergency Bra, a piece of feminine apparel that can be separated in the middle to form two individual gas masks. Hidden in the lining of each cup is a butterfly valve, which makes it possible to breathe in clean air. The emergency bra takes friendship to a whole new level… sharing a cup does not necessarily mean tea any longer.
Having been a witness to the effects of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in April 1986, Dr. Bodnar realized that had gas masks been available much of the radiation poisoning could have been prevented. Her Emergency Bra is available in heart-pounding red. It sells for $59.99 in sizes from 32B to 40C. Those sizes should make it a life saver even for those with Jimmy Durante type noses.
With the possibility of another mask mandate due to rising covid cases being touted on the news, I fear the Emergency Bra will become standard apparel for those who still believe face coverings save lives. Maybe… maybe… Dr. Bodnar’s invention can work miracles. It is designed to filter out harmful chemical, biohazard and dust particulate in the event of radiation exposure. It should be able to stop a germ that escapes a hand or a handkerchief should someone sneeze or cough.
More great news…
Public safety being such an important issue, in 2011 John Senders of the University of Toronto entered the results of his series of safety experiments for Ig Noble Award consideration. Titled “The Attentional Demand of Automobile Driving,” his work involved studying a person driving a car on a major highway while a visor repeatedly flapped down over their face, blocking their view of the road. I am not certain but I think the experiment was run on the I-95 in Florida. Between cell phone use, applying makeup, and feeding a pet while driving, claiming a flapping visor is responsible for highway accidents seems totally plausible
Ig Nobel Prizes are given each year in early October and parody the Nobel Prizes so highly regarded in the scientific world. The purpose of the award is to "first make people laugh, and then make them think."
With that in mind, the Perception Award for 2016 went to Atsuki Higashiyama and Kohei Adachi for investigating whether things look different when you bend over and view them between your legs. There are sooo many comments I could make on how the research for this study was conducted, but I will leave it to those reading this post to come up with their own visuals.
BTW: One of the awards presented in 2015 was for a study that looked at why the word “huh” appears in almost every language. If you are wondering the same thing, just re-read everything I wrote above or visit the Improbable Research website.
Donna Carbone is the Executive Director/Playwright in Residence at the Palm Beach Institute for the Entertainment Arts, where education through entertainment is the mission statement.
Please visit: pbinstituteforentertainmentarts.com