The simple bra: something worndiscreetly by women around the world, or a powerful, life-saving device?

Well, maybe both. A team in Chicago has invented a bra that can be quickly turned into a pair of gas masks – one for the wearer and one for a needy bystander.

For their troubles they’ve received one of this year’s Ig Nobel awards.

The wacky awards honour achievements that "first make people laugh and then make them think", and are handed out at Harvard University for the year’s most eccentric research.

Prizes are awarded in categories that mirror the better-known Nobel Prize, such as physics, literature and peace.

So cute... and good for the environment?

This year’s peace prize went to a Swiss research team who made a brave breakthrough in the field ofbar-room brawling. The question was whether it was better to be hit on the head by an empty beer bottle or a full one. Their answer? A full one.

Winning the biology prize was a piece of unusual research involving giant pandas.

Chinese and Japanese scientists working together discovered thatbacteria taken from the mammal’s faeces could be used to break downkitchen refuse. In fact it was so effective it could reduce the massof the refuse by 90%.

Other prizes went to an American team who conducted a study into why pregnant women don’t fall over, and a British couple who found that cows with names gave more milk than cows that are nameless.

And spare a thought for the man who has been diligently cracking the knuckles on his left hand for 60 years in a quest to determine whether this contributes to arthritis.

Luckily for Donald L Unger, it didn’t, at least for him, which will hopefully make carrying home his medicine prize a little bit easier.

So, if you have an idea that sounds crazy, why not send it to us? If bras can win prizes, maybe somewhere in your wardrobe is the key to world peace.