spend more than 90 percent of their lives indoors,

生活在已開發國家中的人們

where they breathe in and come into contact

超過百分之90的時間待在室內，

with trillions of life forms invisible to the naked eye:

他們呼吸且接觸

microorganisms.

肉眼看不見的無數生物：

Buildings are complex ecosystems

微生物。

that are an important source

建築物是複雜的生態系統，

of microbes that are good for us,

也是人們取得微生物的重要來源，

and some that are bad for us.

不論是好的，

What determines the types and distributions

還是不好的微生物。

of microbes indoors?

什麼因素決定了室內微生物的

Buildings are colonized by airborne microbes

種類和分布？

that enter through windows

佔據在建築物內的空氣傳播微生物

and through mechanical ventilation systems.

經由窗戶

And they are brought inside

和機械通風裝置進入室內。

by humans and other creatures.

也經由人類和其它生物

The fate of microbes indoors

帶入室內。

depends on complex interactions

室內微生物的命運

with humans,

取決於

and with the human-built environment.

其與人類的互動

And today, architects and biologists

和與人造環境的互動

are working together

現今，建築師和生物學家

to explore smart building design

一起合作

that will create

探索聰慧的建築設計

healthy buildings for us.

以創造

We spend an extraordinary amount of time

對人們健康的建築物。

in buildings

我們花非常大量的時間

that are extremely controlled environments,

待在建築物內，

like this building here --

建築物是被高度控制的環境，

environments that have mechanical ventilation systems

像這座建築物--

that include filtering,

裝設有機械通風系統

heating and air conditioning.

包括過濾，

Given the amount of time that we spend indoors,

暖氣和空氣調節設備。

it's important to understand

考量到我們待在室內的時間，

how this affects our health.

了解這如何影響我們的健康

At the Biology and the Built Environment Center,

是很重要的事。

we carried out a study in a hospital

在這座生物和人造環境中心裡，

where we sampled air

我們進行一項醫院內的研究，

and pulled the DNA

我們取樣醫院裡的空氣，

out of microbes in the air.

從空氣中的微生物

And we looked at three different types of rooms.

擷取DNA。

We looked at rooms that were mechanically ventilated,

我們著眼於三種不同類型的房間。

which are the data points in the blue.

有機械通風設備的房間

We looked at rooms that were naturally ventilated,

是圖表中的藍數據點。

where the hospital let us turn off the mechanical ventilation

我們研究自然通風的地方

in a wing of the building

是醫院允許我們關閉機械通風設備的房間

and pry open the windows

它們位於醫院的側翼

that were no longer operable,

我們翹開的窗戶

but they made them operable for our study.

實際上早已不能使用，

And we also sampled the outdoor air.

為了我們的研究，醫院恢復它們的功能。

If you look at the x-axis of this graph,

我們也從戶外空氣中取樣。

you'll see that what we commonly want to do --

如果你看此表的X軸，

which is keeping the outdoors out --

可觀察到我們普通的作法--

we accomplished that with mechanical ventilation.

把戶外空氣排除在外--

So if you look at the green data points,

我們藉由機械通風達成此目的。

which is air that's outside,

如果你看表中的綠數據點，

you'll see that there's a large amount of microbial diversity,

這是戶外的空氣，

or variety of microbial types.

你可看到有大量的微生物多樣性，

But if you look at the blue data points,

或者多樣化的微生物種類。

which is mechanically ventilated air,

但如果你看藍數據點，

it's not as diverse.

它們代表機械通風的空氣，

But being less diverse

種類沒那麼多樣化。

is not necessarily good for our health.

但是種類少

If you look at the y-axis of this graph,

不一定對我們的健康有益處。

you'll see that, in the mechanically ventilated air,

如果你看表中的Y軸，

you have a higher probability

你可看到，機械通風的空氣中，

of encountering a potential pathogen,

你有較高的可能性

or germ,

會接觸到潛在的病原體，

than if you're outdoors.

或病菌，

So to understand why this was the case,

在戶外時，可能性反而較小

we took our data

為了瞭解其背後的原因，

and put it into an ordination diagram,

我們把這些資料

which is a statistical map

排列在序列分布圖中，

that tells you something

形成一個統計地圖，

about how related the microbial communities are

這個圖可告訴你

in the different samples.

在不同的樣本中

The data points that are closer together

微生物族群的關聯性。

have microbial communities that are more similar

位置相近的點

than data points that are far apart.

帶有較類似的微生物族群，

And the first things that you can see from this graph

位置距離較遠的點則反之

is, if you look at the blue data points,

可從此圖表中發現的第一件事是

which are the mechanically ventilated air,

如果你看這些藍數據點

they're not simply a subset of the green data points,

它們代表機械通風的空氣，

which are the outdoor air.

他們不單純只是綠數據點的子集，

What we've found is that mechanically ventilated air

綠數據點代表戶外空氣。

looks like humans.

我們所發現的是機械通風的空氣

It has microbes on it

看似人類的。

that are commonly associated with our skin

漂浮其中的微生物

and with our mouth, our spit.

和我們的皮膚、嘴巴和唾液

And this is because

有共通關連性。

we're all constantly shedding microbes.

這是因為

So all of you right now

我們全部的人不斷地散播微生物。

are sharing your microbes with one another.

現在你們全部的人

And when you're outdoors,

正在彼此分享彼此的微生物。

that type of air has microbes

當你們在戶外時，

that are commonly associated with plant leaves and with dirt.

空氣中所帶的微生物

Why does this matter?

和植物葉子還有土攘有關連性。

It matters because the health care industry

這為什麼重要呢？

is the second most energy intensive industry

其重要性在於醫療保健產業

in the United States.

排名美國第二大

Hospitals use two and a half times

高耗能產業。

the amount of energy as office buildings.

醫院所耗能源

And the model that we're working with

是辦公建築物的2.5倍。

in hospitals,

現今醫院奉行的

and also with many, many different buildings,

典範，

is to keep the outdoors out.

同時也可見於很多不同建築之中，

And this model

是將戶外空氣排除在外。

may not necessarily be the best for our health.

而這個典範

And given the extraordinary amount

不一定是對我們健康最有益處的。

of nosocomial infections,

鑒於非常大量的

or hospital-acquired infections,

醫院感染，

this is a clue that it's a good time

或者經由醫院取得的感染，

to reconsider our current practices.

這提醒我們，是時候

So just as we manage national parks,

重新考慮目前的常規是否合適。

where we promote the growth of some species

如同我們管理國家公園，

and we inhibit the growth of others,

當我們促進一些物種的成長時，

we're working towards thinking about buildings

我們也抑制其它物種的成長，

using an ecosystem framework

我們正把生態系統的架構

where we can promote the kinds of microbes

應用到建築的思維裡，

that we want to have indoors.

提升我們想要移到室內的

I've heard somebody say

某些微生物種類。

that you're as healthy as your gut.

我聽過人說

And for this reason, many people eat probiotic yogurt

你的健康取決於你的腸道健康。

so they can promote a healthy gut flora.

因此很多人吃益生菌優格

And what we ultimately want to do

就是為了促進健康的腸道菌叢。

is to be able to use this concept

我們的終極目標

to promote a healthy group

是應用此概念

of microorganisms inside.

促進室內的

Thank you.

健康微生物群。

(Applause)

謝謝。