fryPod: Lightning strikes iPod users
By Brian Vastag
A jogger wearing one of the popular iPod music players suffered second-degree ear and neck burns, burst eardrums, and jaw fractures after lightning struck a nearby tree.
Doctors say that the wires leading to the iPod’s earbuds channeled electricity up the man’s torso and into his ears. Linear burns extended from the ears to the cheeks and down the neck, tracing the wires.
Emergency physicians at Vancouver (British Columbia) General Hospital describe the case in the July 12 New England Journal of Medicine.