With moist skin, damage from lightning strikes is likely to be less

About the episode

Let's just say it's best to find a safe, sheltered spot during a thunderstorm. But if you unexpectedly end up in the middle of a storm, it may be best to leave yourself all wet.

There have already been some theories about this, and unfortunately, experiments have also been done on animals, but as you will understand, it is not something you can easily test on humans. German researchers have now attempted to use two 3D models of the human head.

They then spread a few layers of something resembling agar, which is a powder made from seaweed. The conductive properties of our heads were thus imitated as closely as possible. Each layer also received a number of electrodes.

One of the two models was then wetted with a mist of rain liquid. The two models were then exposed to 10 simulated lightning strikes. In both cases, a wave of electricity passed over the head.

But the wet head had less charge in the deeper layers representing the brain and also showed less damage.

The scientists themselves also point out that more research is needed. But they want to continue with these results. Ideally, they would like to use more of these types of tools to develop protective materials that you can wear, for example when you are walking, or get caught in a storm and have nowhere to take shelter.

Read more about the research here: Moist skin can save lives when lightning strikes, study finds