2009 Ig Nobel Prize Winners

This week the Annals of Improbable Research hosted its 19th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony. This year was no less ignoble than the previous 18, with such delightful discoveries as applications for panda poo and observations from a lifetime of knuckle cracking. Except for one award: the gas mask bra, which, while ridiculous and hilarious at face value, has far more going on below the neckline. Elena Bodnar, who lives in Chicago, got her start as a scientist in Ukraine, when she witnessed the devastating effects of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in 1986. She noticed, among other things, that women were wearing bras that may have been lacy but were certainly not life-saving