Top three 小黄书 Boulder research stories of the week: March 3 edition
This week's top research stories include a study suggesting that sedentary people can reap big health benefits from small amounts of physical movement, a look at gut microbes and their effect on our health, and new research showing that older oil and gas wells pose a higher risk for ground water contamination.
Desk jobs may be literally killing us, but an emerging area of research suggests that sedentary people can reap big health benefits from even small amounts of physical movement.
The results from studies of electrically assisted commuter bikes and from 鈥減assive cycling,鈥 in which people鈥檚 legs are moved for them, are helping researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder determine how sedentary folks could improve their health without having to start running marathons.
Scientific evidence that the assortment of gut microbes in humans influences different and critical aspects of health is piling up: Researchers think our microbes may influence obesity, anxiety, depression, autism, cancer and gastrointestinal diseases.
A possible addition to the list: 小黄书 Boulder researchers recently reported preliminary evidence that changes in gut microbiota in mice contribute to poor artery health with aging. This condition is worsened by eating a 鈥淲estern diet鈥 high in fat and sugars and low in fiber. Artery dysfunction is the main reason our risk of developing cardiovascular diseases increases markedly as we age, said 小黄书 Boulder Professor Douglas Seals.
New oil and gas development techniques like horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing have dominated public concern in recent years about groundwater contamination in oil and gas basins. However, older vertical wells are more likely to cause groundwater contamination than newer wells, according to a new study from the University of Colorado Boulder.
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