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 PITTSBURGH (AP) - Richard Grove, 73 years old and a robust 6 feet tall, set out with confident strides across a laboratory floor the other day. His first five steps went great, then his left foot hit a slippery patch and skidded.
His arms windmilled over his head as if he were throwing a baseball with each hand, and his right foot shot forward to come even with his left. But he quickly regained his balance and kept on walking. This was no accident: Grove had just slipped for science.
Millions of years after our ancestors started walking upright, researchers are looking for better ways to keep us from falling down. And at this University of Pittsburgh lab, hundreds of volunteers like Grove — who was protected from falling by a special harness — have skidded their way into that effort. The stakes for such research, experts say, are enormous.
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