In 1985, the Innovative Design Fund placed an ad in Scientific American offering up to $10,000 to support clever prototypes for clothing, home decor, and textiles. William Freeman Ph.D., then an electrical engineer at Polaroid and now an MIT professor, saw it and submitted a novel idea: a three-sided zipper. Instead of fastening pants, it'd be like a switch that seamlessly flipped chairs, tents, and purses between soft and rigid states, making them easier to pack and put together.
This took Europe $200B and 40 years.
Secret facility in France.
What part do they make in that round thing?
Y’see the 3 sided zipper can only exist in cosmic levels of pressure and heat, being constrained by advanced AI controlled magnets to prevent the zipper from getting caught on something.
A moment of horrified silence for the scrotums/labia of the 18 scientists that collectively discovered this. Their sacrifices will not be forgotten.
Oops, the AI controlling the magnets just deleted the database with the records, but it says it is very sorry.