The orbs barrel down the Swiss mountain, toppling beech and spruce trees as they pick up speed. These "test rocks" – the heaviest weighing 3,200 kilograms (7,000 lbs)– are part of research aimed at understanding the growing risk of rockfalls around the world. As climate change warms high-altitude mountain regions, boulders and rocks long frozen into place are being loosed and tumbling downslope. Scientists do not have much data on rockfalls, partly because they often happen in remote regions where few people live. On the lower slopes of Switzerland's Meretschihorn mountain, one couple had to be evacuated five times last year.

Source: The Star April 20, 2021 08:25 UTC