Dr. Elena Bodnar‘s 2009 Ig Nobel Prize-winning Emergency Bra may be the most spectacular and fashionable instance of brassiere design and protective-face-mask design intersecting. But it is not the first. The 3M company’s N95 mask grew from an-early-1960s bra-cup design by Sara Little Turnbull, according to reports (“How One Woman Inspired The Design For The […]
Tag: bra
Ten Years Ago and Again at AAAS: The Emergency Bra
Ten years ago, an emergency defense against airborne viruses (and much else) starred in the Improbable Research session at the Annual Meeting of the AAAS (Association for the Advancement of Science), held that year (2011) in Washington, DC. Johnathan Gitlin wrote about it—and took part in the event—for Ars Technica: At this point, forgetting the […]
Historic video of the Emergency Bra, at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony
This video shows the awarding of the 2009 Ig Nobel Prize for medicine to Elena N. Bodnar, Raphael C. Lee, and Sandra Marijan of Chicago, Illinois, USA, for inventing a brassiere that, in an emergency, can be quickly converted into a pair of protective face masks, one for the brassiere wearer and one to be given to some […]
A bra that falls off when you clap your hands (new patent)
Inventor (and IP / patent lawyer) Michael Mansour Ahmadshahi Ph.D., Esq. has just been granted a US patent for his ‘Signal-activated lingerie’ which incorporates a remotely activated (un)fastener “causing the lingerie to fall off from the wearer’s body” when it receives the appropriate signal. The patent document explains : “Lingerie, such as bras which are […]
Scientist who uplifted a frog did not support the Chinese brassiere
News reports say that Andre Geim (who won an Ig Nobel physics prize for using magnets to levitate a frog, and then won a Nobel physics prize for discovering how to obtain and study the virtually-two-dimensional form of carbon known as “graphene“) — discovered that a Chinese brassiere manufacturer is falsely claiming that he, Andre […]
Van Der Waals bra (new patent)
“[…] brassieres (primarily strapless brassieres and but also those with straps), dresses, swimsuits, socks, tops and other articles of clothing (or the like) have a tendency to fall down or off […]” – explains a new (Aug 2016) US patent. The novel methodology for holding them up makes use of intermolecular electrostatic attractive forces known […]
Boob Glue® (New Patent)
Californian inventor Dawn Jackson™ has just received (November 18, 2014,) a US patent for her ‘Breast shaping adhesive and methods for shaping breasts ‘ concept. The glue, which is made from “denatured alcohol and water and where the polymer is selected from the group consisting of: a methacrylate copolymer; a polyquaternium cationic polymer, a poly(acrylic […]
Someone at Alternet is confused about a bra
Someone at Alternet is confused about a brassiere and a prize. Really, at least two people there are confused: the person who wrote the report headlined “Nobel Prize Winning, Gas-Mask-Convertible Bra Provides Defense Against Chemical Warfare“, and the editor or editors who handled the article during its gestation and journey on to the Internet. [NOTE, […]
Dr. Bodnar’s new bra. It includes a radiation sensor.
Dr. Elena Bodnar, inventor of the brassiere that in an emergency can be converted in to a pair of protective face masks (for which she was awarded the 2009 Ig Nobel Prize in public health) has enhanced her invention. This week Dr. Bodnar introduced the Rad Emergency Bra, which incorporates a radiation sensor: BONUS: Video […]
“Why are British women’s breasts getting bigger?”
This week’s Headline of a Past Week honor goes to a May 16, 2010 headline in The Observer (Thanks to investigator Scott Langill for bringing this to our attention.): Why are British women’s breasts getting bigger? Alice Fisher wrote the article, waxing most analytical in this passage: Do you know how to work out a […]