Again [see mini-AIR, November 2003, section 03], someone has failed to heed the lesson of an Ig Nobel Prize winner, and has suffered for it. The Sydney Morning Herald reports, on April 30, 2006, that:
ROLLING Stones guitarist Keith Richards is recovering in an Auckland hospital after suffering head injuries when he fell out of a coconut tree at a Fiji resort.
Richards did not heed the warning issued by 2001 Ig Nobel Medicine Prize winner Peter Barss. Dr. Barss won the Ig for his impactful medical report “Injuries Due to Falling Coconuts.” Published in the Journal of Trauma (vol. 24, no. 11, 1984, pp. 990-1), the study explained that:
Falling coconuts can cause injury to the head, back, and shoulders. A 4-year review of trauma admissions to the Provincial Hospital, Alotau, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea, revealed that 2.5% of such admissions were due to being struck by falling coconuts. Since mature coconut palms may have a height of 24 up to 35 meters and an unhusked coconut may weigh 1 to 4 kg, blows to the head of a force exceeding 1 metric ton are possible. Four patients with head injuries due to falling coconuts are described. Two required craniotomy. Two others died instantly in the village after being struck by dropping nuts.
Dr. Barss is now based at United Arab Emirates University.
(Thanks to Investigator William J. Maloney for bringing this to our attention.)