What Are You Breathing While Biking?

Hey bikers, you know the exercise is great for you. But for those of you cycling on busy city streets, ever wonder what breathing all that exhaust is doing to you?

Our public radio colleagues at WNYC have partnered with researchers at Columbia University in a fascinating new study.

They're measuring air quality and its effects on people breathing it --  all done via bikers fitted with heart rate and respiration trackers, a portable blood pressure cuff, and specialized air monitors that measure pollution.

Science Friday produced a short video outlining the project. "The core idea of this study is to take into account not just the personal exposures, but also the amount people are breathing and how that multiplier [from moving around the city] affects the actual dose of pollution," Columbia professor Darby Jack said.

The study is funded by the National Institute of Health.

"For the longest time, most studies relied upon air monitors that have been on rooftops, far from sources, and have really been done primarily on ambient levels, totally ignoring the fact that people are breathing at very diferent rates levels throgh the day," said Steven Chillrud, also at Columbia. "And that's our overall hypothesis, if you're an active person and exercise you should be looking at dose and not just concentration."

If you know any bikers in New York City who want to be part of the bicycle brigade, they can sign up here.