The air in Beijing is polluted to the point of being unfit for breathing and will likely contribute to the death of anyone breathing it in for long enough. The "Breathing Bike" by artist and inventor Matt Hope, cleans the toxic air surrounding it's rider, pumping in clean air through a connected gas mask with each pedal, but will likely kill you if ridden in the rain due to an exposed 5000 watts of electric power. Sounds like a lose-lose situation, but the brilliance of the Breathing Bike is really in it's approach to solving the problem of pollution in the city. More art piece than it is a practical solution, Hope's makeshift air purifier on wheels may one day be seen as a pre-cursor to a more realistic application.
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[via Urban Velo]
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