Air bags and haute couture, an unlikely combination, come together in the Hövding Invisible Helmet for bicyclists. Though this Swedish product seems ridiculous at first, “it was perhaps inevitable that the helmet evolve from hair-flattening safety necessity to accessory,” given the rising number of bike riders in metropolitan areas. Deflated, it merely looks like a jacket collar or plush scarf. However, attached sensors detect sudden changes in velocity or angle that indicate an accident. That’s when it inflates within a tenth of a second to resemble “a futuristic headpiece in a Björk music video.”
$528, hovding.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Music reviews: Bon Iver, Valerie June, and The WaterboysFeature "Sable, Fable," "Owls, Omens, and Oracles," "Life, Death, and Dennis Hopper"
-
Are bonds worth investing in?the explainer They can diversify your portfolio and tend to be a safer investment than stocks
-
Elon has his 'Legion.' How will Republicans encourage other Americans to have babies?Today's Big Question The pronatalist movement finds itself in power
