Staged Lightning

Thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightening. And for good reason: lightning kills thousands around the world each year, but we know strikingly little about how these bolts from the sky impact the body. A new study has examined the effect of lightning strikes on human bones. The researchers applied an artificial bolt of lightning-mimicking energy directly through a bone sample (left, before applying the current, centre during, and right after). They saw unique patterns of damage caused by a high-pressure shock wave and the electric current that causes an internal restructuring of fibres, leading to deformation and cracking. This distinct footprint of damage could help identify victims when other telltale signs are absent, which may improve our estimates of the burden these incidents present, and builds the growing knowledge base to help inform the recovery of survivors and protect people at risk, making sure lightning doesn’t strike a killing blow.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

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• Image from work by Nicholas Bacci and colleagues
• School of Anatomical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, Johannesburg, South Africa and Forensic Science Research Group, School of Applied Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in Forensic Science International: Synergy, November 2021