Using a mobile phone or an iPod during a thunderstorm could kill you, according to a letter from three doctors in the BMJ. Being struck by lightning isn’t necessarily fatal, because the high resistance of human skin usually results in lightning being conducted over the skin rather than through the body.But metallic objects in direct contact with skin can disrupt this and result in internal injury with a greater risk of dying. The doctors haven’t actually found any cases of people being killed while using a mobile in a storm in the UK, but they have come across examples of “complex physical, cognitive and emotional problems” after a strike.
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