There are claims that barefoot running is better for us as it leads to less injury, but so far those claims are not supported by the evidence. Despite that lack of evidence to support it, there are many that still make those claims that there is. There are a lot of people who have taken up barefoot running and are having no problems and doing just fine, but there are also plenty who have taken it up that are having problems, some of them quite serious. I certainly believe that barefoot activities can be very helpful to mix things up. There is probably no harm in doing some activities barefoot. It uses different muscles differently and that has to be a good thing in a balanced training program. There is plenty of research on it, just none showing that the widespread adoption of going barefoot is good or not. Some bloggers have a lot to say on it and some of the debates can be very entertaining. Anyone considering it needs to follow a carefully developed plan to make the transition. There certainly is a high injury risk in adapting any new running technique.