The designer of a bra that turns into two gas masks was among the winners of the 2009 Ig Nobel prizes.
The aim of the awards is to honour achievements that "first make people laugh and then make them think".
Dr Elena Bodnar won the public health prize for the bra that, in an emergency, can be converted into two gas masks.
She demonstrated her invention and gave one to each of the Nobel laureates as a gift, reports the BBC.
The only British winners were Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson who found that cows with names produce more milk.
Dr Douglas, from the agriculture, food and rural development department of Newcastle University, said she was "thrilled" to have been selected and was a "big fan of the Ig Nobel awards".
She dedicated the award to Purslane, Wendy and Tina - "the nicest cows I have ever known".
The peace prize went to a Swiss research team who determined whether it is better to be hit over the head with a full or empty bottle of beer.
The prize for economics went to the executives of four Icelandic banks.
And the governor of Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank received the prize for mathematics for printing bank notes with such a wide range of denominations.
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