Background. Efficient therapy for both limb and gait ataxia is required. Climbing, a complex task for the whole motor system involving balance, body stabilization, and the simultaneous coordination of all 4 limbs, may have therapeutic potential. Objective. To investigate whether long-term climbing training improves motor function in patients with cerebellar ataxia. Methods. Four patients suffer...

This study examines the osteological changes in the hands and fingers of rock climbers that result from intense, long-term mechanical stress placed on these bones. Specifically, it examines whether rock climbing leads to metacarpal and phalange modelling in the form of increased cortical thickness as well as joint changes associated with osteoarthritis. This study also attempts to identify spec...

The distribution and behavior of foraging animals usually imply a balance between resource availability and predation risk. In some predators such as scorpions, cannibalism constitutes an important mortality factor determining their ecology and behavior. Climbing on vegetation by scorpions has been related both to prey availability and to predation (cannibalism) risk. We tested different hypoth...

Robotic systems continue to be an important tool in space exploration, and as robotic systems continue to gain capability, the particular challenges of the space environment and the tasks required in space will benefit from such systems finding new roles in space. This chapter focuses on the design of climbing robots suitable for use in space. These mimic the climbing ability of geckos, using m...

Exocytosis of synaptic vesicles is generally assumed to occur only at ultrastructurally defined presynaptic active zones. If release is restricted to these sites, receptors not located within the synaptic cleft must be activated by transmitter that diffuses out of the cleft or not be activated at all. Here we report that AMPA receptor-mediated quantal events resulting from climbing fiber releas...

by Philip Ebert & Simon Robertson forthcoming in M. McNamee (ed) Philosophy, Risk and Adventure Sports, Routledge In this paper we examine a recent version of an old controversy within climbing ethics. Our organising topic is the ‘bolting’ of climbing routes, in particular the increasing bolting of routes in those wilderness areas climbing traditionalists have customarily believed should remain...

Two styles of climbing robot were developed for space applications. These robots, which used gecko-like dry adhesives for adhesion, have the potential to stick to nearly any surface in low pressure environments (unlike magnets, suction cups or pressure sensitive adhesives). TBCP (Timing Belt Climbing Platform), a 240 g robot, consisted of two modules and used belts of dry adhesive to adhere to ...

The objective of this study was to compare patterns of injury found in traditional rock climbing with those found in sport climbing. A questionnaire was administered to rock climbers by mail, in person, and via the World Wide Web. Injuries that occurred while rope-protected climbing on rock were analyzed regarding the anatomical location and the mechanism and activity at the time of injury. Nin...

This paper describes preliminary steps toward providing humanoid robots with ladder climbing capabilities. Although seemingly straightforward for humans, ladder climbing is quite challenging for humanoid robots due to differences from human kinematics, significant physical stresses, simultaneous coordination of four limbs in contact, and limited motor torques. We present a planning strategy for...

In this paper we apply chaotic systems to the task of sequence variation for the purpose of aiding humans in setting indoor rock climbing routes. This work expands on prior work where similar variations were used to assist in dance choreography and music composition. We present a formalization for transcription of rock climbing problems and a variation generator which is tuned for our domain an...