‘Daredevil’ running could help astronauts maintain muscles in low gravity

Spending an extended period of time in lower gravity can weaken muscles and cause bones to deteriorate. To combat this, astronauts must exercise every day. Running while harnessed to a treadmill is one tried-and-true option that astronauts aboard the International Space Station have employed for years. But running in low gravity is awkward and doesn’t provide the same workout as striding under the full weight of Earth’s gravitational pull. Minetti et al., Royal Society Open Science (2024) But what if jogging astronauts could mimic Earth’s gravity in space? Inspired by the “wall of death” amusement park attraction, in which daredevils on motorbikes ride parallel to the ground along the inside wall of a giant cylinder, researchers at the University of Milan wondered whether they could devise a similar setup for space runners. As an earthbound motorcyclist speeds around the cylinder, their inertia pushes them into the wall, creating an outward centrifugal force. This force creates friction between the wall and the motorcycle’s tires that keeps them from sliding down. On Earth, we can’t run fast enough to generate the inertia required to fight gravity. But on the Moon—where there’s less gravity to fight against—theoretically, we could. Researchers had two participants, one man and one woman, attempt to run inside a borrowed wall of death cylinder while harnessed to a counterb...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news