Most Dangerous Object in the Office: North Face Avalanche Airbag Safety System Backpack

North Face Avalanche Airbag Safety Program Backpack
Photo: Mathew Scott

Wired‘s Gadget Lab is treacherous. When shelving a 70-inch HDTV or a box of iPhone cases, the danger of getting buried in an avalanche of gear is quite real. If I’m ever engulfed in a torrent of gizmos, I’ll just pull the pyrotechnical activation deal with on this North Face backpack. In just three seconds, two enclosed airbags will inflate with 170 liters of nitrogen. What excellent are a couple of giant balloons when you are facing death by DSLRs? The airbags give you more surface region, and due to the phenomenon of granular convection, objects with a larger surface location rise to the leading of a shifting mass, even when they’re heavier (ever notice how Brazil nuts jostle their way to the leading in a jar of mixed Planters?). By the very same principle, the airbag pack lets humans float to the surface of an avalanche. Now where’s that Saint Bernard with my revivifying brandy?