TEDGlobal 2011
Jessica Green: Are we filtering the wrong microbes?
Jessica Green: Estamos a filtrar os microbios equivocados?
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Deberiamos manter o aire libre fóra dos hospitais? Jessica Green, ecoloxista e socia de TED, descubriou que a ventilación mecánica desfaise de moitos tipos de microbios, pero do tipo incorrecto: é mais probable que os que quedan no hospital sexan patóxenos.
Jessica Green - Engineer and biodiversity scientist
Jessica Green wants people to understand the important role microbes play in every facet of our lives: climate change, building ecosystems, human health, even roller derby -- using nontraditional tools like art, animation and film to help people visualize the invisible world. Full bio
Jessica Green wants people to understand the important role microbes play in every facet of our lives: climate change, building ecosystems, human health, even roller derby -- using nontraditional tools like art, animation and film to help people visualize the invisible world. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
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Humans in the developed world
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Os seres humanos do mundo desenvolvido
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spend more than 90 percent of their lives indoors,
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pasan máis do 90 por cento da súa vida en ambientes pechados,
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where they breathe in and come into contact
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onde respiran e entran en contacto
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with trillions of life forms invisible to the naked eye:
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con billóns de formas de vida imposibles de ver a simple vista:
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microorganisms.
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os microorganismos.
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Buildings are complex ecosystems
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Os edificios son ecosistemas complexos
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that are an important source
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que son unha fonte importante
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of microbes that are good for us,
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de microbios que son bos para nós,
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and some that are bad for us.
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e algúns que son malos para nós.
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What determines the types and distributions
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Qué determina os tipos e distribucións
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of microbes indoors?
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dos microbios nos interiores?
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Buildings are colonized by airborne microbes
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Os edificios están colonizados por microbios aéreos
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that enter through windows
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que entran a través das fiestras
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and through mechanical ventilation systems.
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e a través dos sistemas de ventilación mecánica.
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And they are brought inside
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Tamén entran a través
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by humans and other creatures.
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dos seres humáns e outras criaturas.
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The fate of microbes indoors
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O destino dos microbios nos ambientes pechados
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depends on complex interactions
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depende de interaccións complexas
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with humans,
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cós seres humáns
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and with the human-built environment.
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e co entorno por eles creado.
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And today, architects and biologists
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E hoxe en día, os arquitectos e biólogos
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are working together
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están traballando xuntos
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to explore smart building design
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para explorar o deseño de edificios intelixentes
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that will create
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que crearán
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healthy buildings for us.
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edificios máis saudables para nós.
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We spend an extraordinary amount of time
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Pasamos unha cantidade enorme de tempo
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in buildings
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en edificios
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that are extremely controlled environments,
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que son entornos extremadamente controlados,
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like this building here --
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coma este mesmo;
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environments that have mechanical ventilation systems
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entornos que contan con sistemas de ventilación mecánica
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that include filtering,
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que inclúen filtrado,
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heating and air conditioning.
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calefacción e aire acondicionado.
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Given the amount of time that we spend indoors,
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Dada a cantidade de tempo que pasamos en ambientes pechados,
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it's important to understand
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é importante entender
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how this affects our health.
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como afecta isto á nosa saúde.
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At the Biology and the Built Environment Center,
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No Biology and Built Environment Center,
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we carried out a study in a hospital
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levamos a cabo un estudio nun hospital
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where we sampled air
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onde tomamos mostras do aire
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and pulled the DNA
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e extraemos ADN
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out of microbes in the air.
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de microbios do aire.
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And we looked at three different types of rooms.
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Analizamos tres tipos diferentes de habitacións.
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We looked at rooms that were mechanically ventilated,
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Analizamos habitacións ventiladas mecánicamente,
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which are the data points in the blue.
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que son os puntos en azul.
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We looked at rooms that were naturally ventilated,
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Tamén habitacións ventiladas de forma natural,
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where the hospital let us turn off the mechanical ventilation
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donde se nos permitiu apagar os sistemas de ventilación mecánica
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in a wing of the building
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nunha zona do edificio
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and pry open the windows
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e abrir an fiestras
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that were no longer operable,
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que xa non se empregaban,
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but they made them operable for our study.
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pero que se fixeron útiles para o noso estudo.
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And we also sampled the outdoor air.
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E tamén tomamos mostras do aire exterior.
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If you look at the x-axis of this graph,
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Se observamos o eixo X do gráfico,
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you'll see that what we commonly want to do --
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veredes o que normalmente queremos facer,
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which is keeping the outdoors out --
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que é manter fóra o aire exterior,
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we accomplished that with mechanical ventilation.
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e o conseguimos coa ventilación mecánica.
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So if you look at the green data points,
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Se observamos os puntos verdes,
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which is air that's outside,
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que representan o aire exterior,
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you'll see that there's a large amount of microbial diversity,
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veremos que hai unha gran diversidade microbiana,
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or variety of microbial types.
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ou variedade de tipos de microbios.
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But if you look at the blue data points,
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Pero se observamos os puntos azuis,
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which is mechanically ventilated air,
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que respresentan o aire ventilado mecanicamente,
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it's not as diverse.
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non hai esa diversidade.
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But being less diverse
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Pero que sexa menos diverso
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is not necessarily good for our health.
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non é necesariamente bo para a nosa saúde.
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If you look at the y-axis of this graph,
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Se observades o eixo Y do gráfico,
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you'll see that, in the mechanically ventilated air,
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veredes que, no aire ventilado mecánicamente,
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you have a higher probability
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hay máis posibilidades
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of encountering a potential pathogen,
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de atopar patóxenos potenciais,
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or germ,
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ou xermes,
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than if you're outdoors.
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que si estamos fóra.
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So to understand why this was the case,
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Para entender por que ocurreu isto,
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we took our data
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collemos a información
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and put it into an ordination diagram,
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e a puxemos nun diagrama de ordenación,
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which is a statistical map
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que é un mapa estadístico
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that tells you something
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que dalgún xeito di
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about how related the microbial communities are
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canta relación existe entre as comunidades microbianas
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in the different samples.
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nas diferentes mostras.
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The data points that are closer together
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Os puntos que están mais xuntos
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have microbial communities that are more similar
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son comunidades microbianas máis semellantes
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than data points that are far apart.
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que os puntos que están separados.
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And the first things that you can see from this graph
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O primeiro que vemos no gráfico,
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is, if you look at the blue data points,
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se observamos os puntos azuis,
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which are the mechanically ventilated air,
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que representan o aire ventilado mecanicamente,
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they're not simply a subset of the green data points,
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é que non son un subconxunto do grupo de puntos verdes,
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which are the outdoor air.
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que representa o aire exterior.
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What we've found is that mechanically ventilated air
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O que atopamos é que o aire ventilado mecanicamente
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looks like humans.
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parecese ós seres humáns.
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It has microbes on it
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Contén microbios
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that are commonly associated with our skin
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que se asocian xeralmente coa nosa pel,
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and with our mouth, our spit.
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e coa nosa boca, a nosa saliva.
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And this is because
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Isto sucede porque
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we're all constantly shedding microbes.
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estamos constantemente liberando microbios.
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So all of you right now
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Así que agora mesmo todos vós
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are sharing your microbes with one another.
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estades a compartir microbios uns cos outros.
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And when you're outdoors,
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E cando estades fóra,
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that type of air has microbes
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ese tipo de aire ten microbios
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that are commonly associated with plant leaves and with dirt.
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que se relacionan coas follas das plantas e a suciedade.
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Why does this matter?
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Por que é isto importante?
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It matters because the health care industry
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É importante porque a industria da asistencia sanitaria
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is the second most energy intensive industry
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é a segunda industria de consumo enerxético
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in the United States.
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nos Estados Unidos.
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Hospitals use two and a half times
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Os hospitais empregan máis do dobre
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the amount of energy as office buildings.
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da exerxía que emprega un edificio de oficinas.
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And the model that we're working with
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O modelo co que traballamos
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in hospitals,
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nos hopitais,
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and also with many, many different buildings,
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e tamén co que traballamos noutros moitos edificios moi diferentes,
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is to keep the outdoors out.
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trata de manter o aire exterior fóra.
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And this model
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Pero este modelo
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may not necessarily be the best for our health.
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pode non ser o mellor para a nosa saúde.
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And given the extraordinary amount
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Se tamén temos en conta a gran cantidade
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of nosocomial infections,
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de infeccións nosocomiais,
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or hospital-acquired infections,
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ou infeccións adquiridas nos hospitais,
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this is a clue that it's a good time
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temos unha pista de que é un bo momento
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to reconsider our current practices.
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para reconsiderar as prácticas actuais.
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So just as we manage national parks,
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Así que ó igual que controlamos os parques nacionais,
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where we promote the growth of some species
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onde estimulamos o crecemento dalgunhas especies
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and we inhibit the growth of others,
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e dificultamos o crecemento doutras,
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we're working towards thinking about buildings
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estamos a traballar en vista a que nos edificios
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using an ecosystem framework
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se empregue un modelo de ecosistema
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where we can promote the kinds of microbes
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onde poidamos estimular os tipos de microbios
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that we want to have indoors.
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que queremos nos interiores.
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I've heard somebody say
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Algunha xente di
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that you're as healthy as your gut.
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que un está tan san coma estea o seu intestino.
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And for this reason, many people eat probiotic yogurt
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E por esa razón moita xente toma iogures probióticos
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so they can promote a healthy gut flora.
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para estimular a flora intestinal.
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And what we ultimately want to do
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E o que queremos en última instancia
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is to be able to use this concept
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é ser capaces de empregar este concepto
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to promote a healthy group
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para promover os microorganismos
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of microorganisms inside.
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saúdables nos interiores.
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Thank you.
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Grazas.
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(Applause)
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(aplausos)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jessica Green - Engineer and biodiversity scientistJessica Green wants people to understand the important role microbes play in every facet of our lives: climate change, building ecosystems, human health, even roller derby -- using nontraditional tools like art, animation and film to help people visualize the invisible world.
Why you should listen
Jessica Green, a TED2010 Fellow and TED2011 Senior Fellow, is an engineer and ecologist who specializes in biodiversity theory and microbial systems. As a professor at both the University of Oregon and the Santa Fe Institute, she is the founding director of the innovative Biology and the Built Environment (BioBE) Center that bridges biology and architecture.
Green envisions a future with genomic-driven approaches to architectural design that promote sustainability, human health and well-being. She is spearheading efforts to model buildings as complex ecosystems that house trillions of diverse microorganisms interacting with each other, with humans, and with their environment. This framework uses next-generation sequencing technology to characterize the “built environment microbiome” and will offer site-specific design solutions to minimize the spread of infectious disease and maximize building energy efficiency.
Jessica Green | Speaker | TED.com