'Smart Carpet' will detect when the elderly fall

It is always worrying when an elderly person lives alone. What if they should fall, and not be able to reach the telephone? The answer may have been invented.

Researchers at the University of Manchester, U.K. have come up with an idea - a "smart carpet" that can detect when someone has fallen over. The system will also detect when unfamiliar feet are walking on it, handy in detecting intruders... read more.

Video: Woman & child step off platform & fall on subway tracks

CCTV cameras in the Boston-area subway caught the scene as a woman walks off the platform, falling on the tracks, holding her 4-year-old child. Commuters came to the rescue.

The CCTV footage is a handout from MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority), and shows the woman absent-mindedly stepping off the platform at the MIT/Kendall Square station in Cambridge, falling onto the tracks and narrowly missing the electrified third rail... read more.