Jessica Green: Good germs make healthy buildings

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

譯者: illusion Hung 審譯者: Hao-Wei Chang

Everything is covered in invisible ecosystems

一切事物均被肉眼不可見的生態系統覆蓋

made of tiny lifeforms: bacteria, viruses and fungi.

它由微小的生命組成：細菌、病毒和真菌

Our desks, our computers, our pencils, our buildings

我們的書桌、電腦、筆、建築

all harbor resident microbial landscapes.

全是微生物的棲息地

As we design these things, we could be thinking

當我們設計這些物品時，不妨思考一下

about designing these invisible worlds,

關於這些隱形世界的設計

and also thinking about how they interact

同時思考它們如何與

with our personal ecosystems.

我們個人的生態系統互動

Our bodies are home to trillions of microbes,

我們身體是億萬個微生物的住所

and these creatures define who we are.

這些生物定義了我們

The microbes in your gut can influence your weight and your moods.

腸道中的微生物可影響你的體重和心情

The microbes on your skin can help boost your immune system.

皮膚上的微生物有助於提升你的免疫系統

The microbes in your mouth can freshen your breath,

口中的微生物可使你口氣清新

or not,

或正好相反

and the key thing is that our personal ecosystems

最重要的是，我們個人的生態系統

interact with ecosystems on everything we touch.

與我們接觸的一切生態系統間的交互作用

So, for example, when you touch a pencil,

因此，例如，當你觸摸一支筆時

microbial exchange happens.

即發生微生物交換

If we can design the invisible ecosystems in our surroundings,

如果我們能設計周遭的隱形生態系統

this opens a path to influencing

將開啟一條途徑

our health in unprecedented ways.

以前所未有的方式影響我們的健康

I get asked all of the time from people,

經常有人問我

"Is it possible to really design microbial ecosystems?"

「設計微生物生態系統是否確實可行？」

And I believe the answer is yes.

我認為答案是肯定的

I think we're doing it right now,

我認為我們此刻正在進行這件事

but we're doing it unconsciously.

但是處於不自覺狀態

I'm going to share data with you

我想與大家分享一些資訊

from one aspect of my research focused on architecture

來自我對建築的研究之一

that demonstrates how, through both conscious

顯示我們如何藉由有意識

and unconscious design,

及無意識的設計

we're impacting these invisible worlds.

影響這些肉眼不可見的世界

This is the Lillis Business Complex at the University of Oregon,

這是奧勒岡大學 Lillis 商學綜合大樓

and I worked with a team of architects and biologists

我與一個由 建築師和生物學家組成的團隊合作

to sample over 300 rooms in this building.

在這棟建築中的 300 多個房間取樣

We wanted to get something like a fossil record of the building,

我們希望得到 類似建築物的歷史紀錄

and to do this, we sampled dust.

為了達成這個目標，我們蒐集灰塵樣本

From the dust, we pulled out bacterial cells,

我們從灰塵中分離出細菌細胞

broke them open, and compared their gene sequences.

將它們打破，比較其中的基因序列

This means that people in my group

這意味著我的團隊成員

were doing a lot of vacuuming during this project.

在這個計畫中進行了大量吸塵工作

This is a picture of Tim, who,

照片中的人是 Tim

right when I snapped this picture, reminded me,

就在拍攝這張照片的當下，他提醒我說：

he said, "Jessica, the last lab group I worked in

「Jessica，在上個研究團隊中，

I was doing fieldwork in the Costa Rican rainforest,

我是在哥斯大黎加雨林進行田野調查，

and things have changed dramatically for me."

這和現在情況有著天壤之別。」

So I'm going to show you now first what we found in the offices,

因此我準備向大家展示 我們在辦公室中的第一項發現

and we're going to look at the data through a visualization tool

我們將藉由某種視覺工具瀏覽這些資料

that I've been working on in partnership with Autodesk.

這是我和 Autodesk （3D軟體設計公司）長期合作的成果

The way that you look at this data is,

瀏覽資料的方法是

first, look around the outside of the circle.

先觀察圓圈外圍

You'll see broad bacterial groups,

你將看見許多不同的菌落

and if you look at the shape of this pink lobe,

如果觀察這個粉紅葉片狀圖形

it tells you something about the relative abundance of each group.

它將顯示每種菌落的相對數量

So at 12 o'clock, you'll see that offices have a lot of

因此在 12 點鐘方向，你看見辦公室存在許多

alphaproteobacteria, and at one o'clock

甲型變形菌，在 1 點鐘方向

you'll see that bacilli are relatively rare.

你看見桿菌數量十分稀少

Let's take a look at what's going on in different space types in this building.

我們看看建築中不同類型空間的情況

If you look inside the restrooms,

如果觀察休息室

they all have really similar ecosystems,

它們的生態系統均十分相似

and if you were to look inside the classrooms,

如果觀察教室

those also have similar ecosystems.

它們亦擁有相似的生態系統

But if you look across these space types,

但如果縱觀這些空間類型

you can see that they're fundamentally different

可看出它們彼此間

from one another.

截然不同

I like to think of bathrooms like a tropical rainforest.

我喜歡將浴室想成熱帶雨林

I told Tim, "If you could just see the microbes,

我對 Tim 說，「如果你能看見微生物

it's kind of like being in Costa Rica. Kind of."

大概就感覺像身處哥斯大黎加。」

And I also like to think of offices as being a temperate grassland.

我也喜歡將辦公室想成溫帶草原

This perspective is a really powerful one for designers,

這個觀點對設計師來說十分有用

because you can bring on principles of ecology,

因為你可以套用生態學原則

and a really important principle of ecology is dispersal,

生態學中一個 十分重要的原則就是傳播

the way organisms move around.

即有機體的傳播方式

We know that microbes are dispersed around by people

我們知道微生物藉由人類

and by air.

和空氣傳播

So the very first thing we wanted to do in this building

因此我們希望在這棟建築中做的第一件事

was look at the air system.

就是觀察空氣系統

Mechanical engineers design air handling units

機械工程師設計空調系統

to make sure that people are comfortable,

確保人們感到舒適

that the air flow and temperature is just right.

空氣流通、氣溫恰到好處

They do this using principles of physics and chemistry,

他們利用物理和化學原理進行這項工作

but they could also be using biology.

但也可利用生物學

If you look at the microbes

如果觀察這棟建築中

in one of the air handling units in this building,

某個空調系統裡的微生物

you'll see that they're all very similar to one another.

將發現其中生態均十分相似

And if you compare this to the microbes

如果將它與

in a different air handling unit,

不同空調系統中的微生物比較

you'll see that they're fundamentally different.

將發現兩者截然不同

The rooms in this building are like islands in an archipelago,

這建築中的房間就像孤立群島中的島嶼

and what that means is that mechanical engineers

這意味著機械工程師

are like eco-engineers, and they have the ability

如同生態工程師有能力

to structure biomes in this building the way that they want to.

以他們想要的方式 建構這棟建築中的生物群落

Another facet of how microbes get around is by people,

另一個傳播微生物的方式是藉由人類

and designers often cluster rooms together

設計師通常將房間設計在一處

to facilitate interactions among people,

像是實驗室和辦公室

or the sharing of ideas, like in labs and in offices.

以促進人們的交流或分享看法

Given that microbes travel around with people,

考慮微生物隨著人們四處傳播

you might expect to see rooms that are close together

你或許預期相距不遠的房間

have really similar biomes.

存在十分相似的生物群落

And that is exactly what we found.

這正是我們發現的結果

If you look at classrooms right adjacent to one another,

如果觀察彼此相鄰的教室

they have very similar ecosystems,

它們擁有十分相似的生態系統

but if you go to an office

但如果觀察

that is a farther walking distance away,

與其相距甚遠的辦公室

the ecosystem is fundamentally different.

其中的生態系統則大不相同

And when I see the power that dispersal has

當我發現這些

on these biogeographic patterns,

生物地理學分佈模式的力量

it makes me think that it's possible

意識到或許可藉此

to tackle really challenging problems,

解決一些充滿挑戰的問題

like hospital-acquired infections.

例如：院內感染

I believe this has got to be, in part,

我認為其中部分原因必定在於

a building ecology problem.

建築物的生態問題

All right, I'm going to tell you one more story about this building.

好，我將告訴大家 更多關於這棟建築的故事

I am collaborating with Charlie Brown.

我與 Charlie Brown 合作

He's an architect,

他是一名建築師

and Charlie is deeply concerned about global climate change.

Charlie 十分關切全球氣候變化

He's dedicated his life to sustainable design.

畢生致力於永續建築設計

When he met me and realized that it was possible for him

遇上我之後，他意識到自己有機會

to study in a quantitative way

以量化方式進行研究

how his design choices impacted

瞭解他的設計選擇如何影響

the ecology and biology of this building,

這棟建築的生態和生物系統

he got really excited, because it added a new dimension to what he did.

他十分興奮， 因為這為將他的工作提升到新層次

He went from thinking just about energy

他從僅思考能源問題

to also starting to think about human health.

轉為同時將人類健康納入考量

He helped design some of the air handling systems

他協助設計了一些

in this building and the way it was ventilated.

這棟建築的空調系統及通風方式

So what I'm first going to show you is

因此我首先要展示的是

air that we sampled outside of the building.

我們從戶外取樣的空氣

What you're looking at is a signature of bacterial communities

圖中顯示的是戶外空氣中的細菌群落

in the outdoor air, and how they vary over time.

以及它們如何隨時間改變

Next I'm going to show you what happened

接下來我將向大家展示

when we experimentally manipulated classrooms.

我們以教室進行實驗的情形

We blocked them off at night

我們於夜間將它關閉

so that they got no ventilation.

因此教室無法通風

A lot of buildings are operated this way,

許多建築採用這種方式

probably where you work,

或許你的工作地點正是如此

and companies do this to save money on their energy bill.

公司藉由這種方式節省電費

What we found is that these rooms remained relatively stagnant

我們發現這些房間的空氣幾乎靜止不動

until Saturday, when we opened the vents up again.

直到我們周六再次將它打開

When you walked into those rooms,

當你走進那些房間時

they smelled really bad,

氣味十分難聞

and our data suggests that it had something to do with

我們的資料顯示

leaving behind the airborne bacterial soup

這和留在空氣中的菌落有關

from people the day before.

來自前一天於此活動的人們

Contrast this to rooms

相較於

that were designed using a sustainable passive design strategy

採用被動式永續策略設計的房間

where air came in from the outside through louvers.

戶外空氣可由百葉窗進入

In these rooms, the air tracked the outdoor air relatively well,

這些房間的空氣成分與戶外空氣極為相似

and when Charlie saw this, he got really excited.

目賭這個結果時，Charlie非常興奮

He felt like he had made a good choice

他感到自己做了一個好選擇

with the design process

藉由設計過程

because it was both energy efficient

因為這不僅符合能源效率需求

and it washed away the building's resident microbial landscape.

也能帶走殘留在建築中的微生物

The examples that I just gave you are about architecture,

我剛剛展示的是關於建築的例子

but they're relevant to the design of anything.

但這和任何設計都息息相關

Imagine designing with the kinds of microbes that we want

想像我們希望設計的微生物種類

in a plane

在飛機上

or on a phone.

或手機上

There's a new microbe, I just discovered it.

我不久前發現一種新型微生物

It's called BLIS, and it's been shown

名為 BLIS ，研究證明

to both ward off pathogens

它不但能抵禦病原體

and give you good breath.

也能使你口氣清新

Wouldn't it be awesome if we all had BLIS on our phones?

如果我們手機上都有 BLIS ，不是很棒嗎？

A conscious approach to design,

根據意識進行的設計

I'm calling it bioinformed design,

我稱之為生物資訊化設計（bioinformed design）

and I think it's possible.

我認為這是可行的

Thank you.

謝謝

(Applause)

（掌聲）