It seems the term “built-in airbags” may soon lose its tongue-in-cheek meaning. A new study has found that breast implants could save your life as they actually slow down bullets by 20 percent.
A study carried out by Christopher Pannucci, a plastic surgeon at the University of Utah, and published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences, tested the theory by shooting bullets through breast implants and into ballistics gel, a substance designed to mimic human flesh.
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Pannucci and his colleagues shot a handgun at the saline breast implant and block of ballistics gel from 2.5 meters away at some 300 meters per second.
Researchers found that the bullet fired into the breast implant was slowed by an average of 8 centimeters, or 20 per cent, “this difference was statistically significant” read the study.
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Analysis of the bullet after the experiment found the bullet that entered the implant was flatter and wider than its counterpart, increasing their drag and evidently slowing them down.
The decrease in tissue penetration could be the difference between life and death for some victims, says Pannucci to the New Scientist, although it “would depend on the bullet velocity and the size and type of the implant,” he says.