A large swath of North America will be in the path of April 8th's total solar eclipse. In the 2017 total eclipse, roughly one hundred people experienced eye issues caused by viewing the eclipse without proper eye protection. Fake eclipse glasses are out there and are impossible to detect. One doctor who treated a woman with permanent damage caused by retinal burns has the following warning: "Do not look at it whether you have glasses or not," he said. "I'm not going to let my family members look at it. I'm a doctor. That's why I say what I say. I saw what happened."
There is a potentially more dangerous risk – car crashes. A letter published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine warned that fatal car crashes increased significantly in the hours surrounding the eclipse in 2017. The data from a three-day period encompassing the eclipse showed a 31% increase in fatal crashes compared to other three-day periods before and after the eclipse. The increase was comparable to a holiday weekend.
Maybe I will just stay home with the shades drawn and look at cute animals on the internet. [via Space.com]
