Scientists roll orbs down mountains in rockfall experiment

Swiss scientists are rolling orbs down the mountains

Location: Schiers, Switzerland

These "test rocks" are part of ongoing research

aimed at understanding the growing risk of rockfalls around the world

(SOUNDBITE) (English) PHYSICIST AT THE SWISS FEDERAL INSTITUTE FOR FOREST, SNOW AND LANDSCAPE RESEARCH, ANDRIN CAVIEZEL, SAYING:

"I think the risk awareness is growing significantly in the society, and it's the society who asks for a proper hazard assessment, especially in habitation areas, in settlement areas. So, the question we are trying to answer here with more exact assessment of rockfall trajectories, and especially experiments we are performing also to refine our simulation programme helps at the end for better hazard assessment and just for general higher security margins for societies in mountainous regions."

The team has hurled faux boulders down various mountains hundreds of times

to gather data aimed at predicting rockfall trajectories