"Lightning's striking again".The dangers of swinging around a golf club outdoors during a thunderstorm thunderstorm, violent, local atmospheric disturbance accompanied by lightning, thunder, and heavy rain, often by strong gusts of wind, and sometimes by hail. are well-documented--not to mention being forever immortalized in the movie Caddyshack--but doctors are now warning about the possibility of attracting lightning with a less conspicuous con·spic·u·ous adj. 1. Easy to notice; obvious. 2. Attracting attention, as by being unusual or remarkable; noticeable. See Synonyms at noticeable. device: the cell phone. In a recent report from the British Medical Journal The British Medical Journal, or BMJ, is one of the most popular and widely-read peer-reviewed general medical journals in the world.[2] It is published by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (owned by the British Medical Association), whose other , the group reported on the case of a 15-year-old girl who was using a cell phone in a park when she was struck by lighting during a storm. The youth survived the strike, but she has had persistent health problems since that time, and she is still using a wheelchair one year after the accident. Doctors point out that during a typical lightning strike lightning strike n → huelga relámpago lightning strike n (Brit) → grève f surprise lightning strike n (BRIT against a person, the high resistance of the skin conducts the flash over the body in a process termed 'flashover.' However, when an individual holds a metal object, like a golf club or a cell phone, the contact of the metal with the skin disrupts the flashover flash·o·ver n. 1. An unintended electric arc, as between two pieces of apparatus. 2. The temperature point at which the heat in an area or region is high enough to ignite all flammable material simultaneously. process and increases the risk for internal injuries and death. Three fatal cases of lightning strikes against people using cell phones have been documented this year in China, South Korea, and Malaysia. |
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