ABOUT THE SPEAKER
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.

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.

More profile about the speaker
Jessica Green | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2011

Jessica Green: Are we filtering the wrong microbes?

Jessica Green: A jeni duke i filtruar mikrrobet e gabuara?

Filmed:
639,339 views

A duhet ti mbajme jashtimit larg spitalit? Ekologjistja dhe Ted Fellow Jessica Green ka gjetur se mekanika e ventilimit i hjek te gjitha llojet e mikrobave, mirpo mikrobet e gabuara: ato qe mbesin ne spital jane me shum te mundeshme te jen te infektuara.
- 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

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

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Humans in the developed world
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Njerezit në boten e zhvilluar
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spend more than 90 percent of their lives indoors,
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hargjojne më shumë se 90 përqind te kohes brenda
00:20
where they breathe in and come into contact
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kur ata marrin fryme brenda dhe vine ne kontakt
00:23
with trillions of life forms invisible to the naked eye:
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me triljona te jetes se padukeshme deri tek ato me sy te zhveshur:
00:26
microorganisms.
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mikroorganizmat.
00:28
Buildings are complex ecosystems
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Ndërtesat janë ecosistemi jonë kompleks
00:30
that are an important source
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te cilat jan nje resurs shum i rendesishum
00:32
of microbes that are good for us,
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te mikrobeve te cilat jan te mira per neve,
00:34
and some that are bad for us.
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dhe disa nga to jan te kqija per neve.
00:36
What determines the types and distributions
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Te cilat e determinojne llojin dhe distribuimin
00:39
of microbes indoors?
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e mikrobeve brenda?
00:41
Buildings are colonized by airborne microbes
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Ndertesat jan te kolonizuara nga mikrobet e ajrit
00:44
that enter through windows
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te cilat hyne brenda nepermjet dritareve
00:46
and through mechanical ventilation systems.
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dhe permes sistemit mekanik te ventilimit.
00:49
And they are brought inside
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dhe sjellen brenda
00:51
by humans and other creatures.
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nga njerzit dhe krijesat tjera.
00:54
The fate of microbes indoors
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Indyra e mikrobeve brenda
00:56
depends on complex interactions
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mbaret nga kompleksiteti kur ato bashkveprojne
00:58
with humans,
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me njerezit,
01:00
and with the human-built environment.
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dhe me me ambientin te cilet e rrethojne.
01:02
And today, architects and biologists
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Sot, arkitektet dhe biologjistet
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are working together
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jane duke punuar se bashku
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to explore smart building design
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per te zbuluar nje dizajne te menqur per ndertesat
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that will create
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te cilat do ti krijojne
01:11
healthy buildings for us.
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ndertesa te shendeteshme per neve.
01:14
We spend an extraordinary amount of time
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Ne do te shpenzojme nje kohe shum te madhe
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in buildings
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brenda ndertesave.
01:18
that are extremely controlled environments,
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te cila jan ekstremisht te kontrolluar nga ambienti
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like this building here --
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sikurse kjo ndertesa ketu--
01:23
environments that have mechanical ventilation systems
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ambienti i cili ka nje ventillim mekanik
01:26
that include filtering,
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te cilat e perfshijne filtrimin,
01:28
heating and air conditioning.
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nxemjen dhe ajrin e kondicjonuar.
01:30
Given the amount of time that we spend indoors,
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Duke matur kohen qe ne shpenzojme brenda
01:32
it's important to understand
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eshte shum me rendesi ta kuptojme
01:34
how this affects our health.
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se si ndikone ne shendetin tone.
01:36
At the Biology and the Built Environment Center,
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Tek biologjia dhe qendra e ndertimit te ambientit,
01:39
we carried out a study in a hospital
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we beme nje studime brenda spitalit
01:42
where we sampled air
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ku e testuam ajrinë
01:44
and pulled the DNA
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dhe nxierrem ADN-ne
01:46
out of microbes in the air.
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jasht mikrobeve ne ajer.
01:48
And we looked at three different types of rooms.
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dhe ne shiquam tri lloje te dryshme te dhomave.
01:51
We looked at rooms that were mechanically ventilated,
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Ne i shiquam dhomat te cilat ishin me ventillim mekanik
01:53
which are the data points in the blue.
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te cilat jane te shenuar me te kaltert.
01:55
We looked at rooms that were naturally ventilated,
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Ne i shiquam dhomat me ventillim natyral,
01:58
where the hospital let us turn off the mechanical ventilation
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ku spitali na lejoj ta ndalim sistemin mekanik te ventillimit
02:00
in a wing of the building
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ne nje krah te nderteses
02:02
and pry open the windows
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dhe tusim hundet ne dritaret e hapura
02:04
that were no longer operable,
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te cilat nuk ishim me ne funksion,
02:06
but they made them operable for our study.
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mirpo ata i bene te funksionueshme per studimin tone
02:08
And we also sampled the outdoor air.
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dhe ne gjithashtu e testuam edhe ajrin jasht
02:10
If you look at the x-axis of this graph,
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Po ta shiqoni boshtin e grafit X
02:13
you'll see that what we commonly want to do --
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ju do te shihni se shpesh her ne deshirojme --
02:16
which is keeping the outdoors out --
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te mbajme te jashtmein jasht --
02:18
we accomplished that with mechanical ventilation.
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ne arritem qe me sistemin mekanik te ventilllimit.
02:21
So if you look at the green data points,
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Pra nese i shiqoni te dhenat ne te gjelberta,
02:23
which is air that's outside,
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te cilat jan ajri jasht
02:25
you'll see that there's a large amount of microbial diversity,
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ju do te shihni se shumica e madhe e mikrobeve te ndara
02:28
or variety of microbial types.
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ose varjacioneve te tipeve te mikrrobeve
02:30
But if you look at the blue data points,
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mirpo nese e shiqoni te dhenat ne te kaltert,
02:32
which is mechanically ventilated air,
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te cilat jane ventillimi i ajrit mekanik,
02:34
it's not as diverse.
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nuk eshte aq e ndryshuar
02:37
But being less diverse
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mirpo te qenit me pak i ndryshuar
02:39
is not necessarily good for our health.
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nuk eshet e domosdoshme per shendetin tone.
02:41
If you look at the y-axis of this graph,
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Po ta shiqoni Y- ne boshtin e ketij grafi.
02:44
you'll see that, in the mechanically ventilated air,
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ju do te shini se ventillimi mekanik i ajrit,
02:47
you have a higher probability
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ju do te keni nje propabilitet te madh e
02:49
of encountering a potential pathogen,
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te marrjes se nje jo-oksigjeni potencial,
02:51
or germ,
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apo mikrob,
02:53
than if you're outdoors.
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sepsa po te ishit jasht.
02:55
So to understand why this was the case,
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Pra per te kuptuar pse ishte ky nje rast,
02:58
we took our data
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ne i morem te dhenat tona
03:00
and put it into an ordination diagram,
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dhe i vendosem ne nje diagram ordiner
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which is a statistical map
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i cili statistikisht eshte nje hart
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that tells you something
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e cila ju tregon diqka
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about how related the microbial communities are
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se si jane te lidhura komuniteti i mikrobeve
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in the different samples.
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ne testime te ndryshme/
03:10
The data points that are closer together
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Pikat e te dheneva te cilat jane shum afer se bashku
03:12
have microbial communities that are more similar
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kan komunitete mikrobale te cilat jane te ngjashme
03:15
than data points that are far apart.
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sepse te dhenat te cilat jan me larg te shprendara
03:17
And the first things that you can see from this graph
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dhe gjeja e pare qe ju mundeni te shihni nga ky graf
03:19
is, if you look at the blue data points,
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eshte, po ta shiqoni te dhenat me ngjyr te kalter
03:21
which are the mechanically ventilated air,
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te cilat jane marrur nga ventillimi mekanik i ajrit
03:24
they're not simply a subset of the green data points,
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ato thjesht nuk jane ndonje nenset i te dhenave te gjelberta
03:27
which are the outdoor air.
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te cilat jan nga ajri i jashtem
03:29
What we've found is that mechanically ventilated air
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Qfar kemi gjetur eshte se sistemik mekanik i ventillimit te ajrit
03:32
looks like humans.
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duke sikurse te jet njerezor.
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It has microbes on it
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Ka mikrobe ne te
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that are commonly associated with our skin
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te cilat shpesh her jan te asocjuar me lekuren tone
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and with our mouth, our spit.
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dhe me gojen tone, ne pshtymen tone.
03:41
And this is because
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Dhe kjo eshe sepse
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we're all constantly shedding microbes.
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ne vazhdimisht i lotojme mikrobet.
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So all of you right now
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pra te gjith juve tani
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are sharing your microbes with one another.
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jeni duke i ndar mikrobet e juve me njeri tjetrin.
03:49
And when you're outdoors,
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dhe kur jeni jasht,
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that type of air has microbes
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ky lloje i ajrit ka mikrobe
03:53
that are commonly associated with plant leaves and with dirt.
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te cilat vazhdimisht jane te bashkangjitura me planetin te cili jemi ne.
03:56
Why does this matter?
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Pse ka rendesi kjo ?
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It matters because the health care industry
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Ka rendesi sepse industria e perkujdesjes se shendetit
04:00
is the second most energy intensive industry
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eshte industria e dyte me e madhe intensive
04:03
in the United States.
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ne Shtetet e Bashkuara te Amerikes.
04:05
Hospitals use two and a half times
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Spitalet perdorin dy her e gjysme te kohes
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the amount of energy as office buildings.
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dhe shumen e energjis sikurse zyred ne ndertesa
04:10
And the model that we're working with
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dhe modeli me te cilin ne jemi duke punuar
04:12
in hospitals,
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ne spitale,
04:14
and also with many, many different buildings,
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dhe gjithashtu ne shum dhe shum ndertesa tjera,
04:16
is to keep the outdoors out.
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eshte per te mbajtur te jashtmen jasht
04:18
And this model
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dhe ky model
04:20
may not necessarily be the best for our health.
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mundet jo domosdoshmerisht te jet me i miri per shendetin tone
04:23
And given the extraordinary amount
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dhe duke i dhene nje shum teper te madh e
04:25
of nosocomial infections,
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te insekteve jokemikale
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or hospital-acquired infections,
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apo infektimeve te marruara nga spitalet
04:30
this is a clue that it's a good time
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ky eshte nje ide qe eshte nje kohe e mire
04:32
to reconsider our current practices.
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per ta konsideruar praktiken tone
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So just as we manage national parks,
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pra sikurse kemi arritur ti menagjojme parqet nacionale,
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where we promote the growth of some species
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ku ne promovojme rritjen e disa specjeve
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and we inhibit the growth of others,
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dhe ne gjithashtu kemi trashiguar ti rrisim tjerat,
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we're working towards thinking about buildings
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ne jemi duke punuar se bashku per te menduar rreth ndertesave
04:46
using an ecosystem framework
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te cilat perdorin sistemin e cko
04:48
where we can promote the kinds of microbes
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ku ne mundemi te promovojme kete lloje te mikrobeve
04:51
that we want to have indoors.
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te cilat deshirojme ti kemi brenda.
04:55
I've heard somebody say
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Kam degjuar dike te thot
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that you're as healthy as your gut.
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qe jeni shum i shendetshum sikurse zorret tua
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And for this reason, many people eat probiotic yogurt
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dhe per kete arsyeje, shum njerez hane jogurt pro-biotike
05:02
so they can promote a healthy gut flora.
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per te promovuar zorre te shendetshme.
05:05
And what we ultimately want to do
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dhe ajo qe ne me gjithqef deshirojme te bejme
05:07
is to be able to use this concept
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eshte te jemi te mundur ta perdorim kete koncept
05:10
to promote a healthy group
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per promovuar nje grup te shendosh
05:12
of microorganisms inside.
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te mikroorganizmave brenda.
05:14
Thank you.
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Faliminderit.
05:16
(Applause)
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(Duartrokitje)
Translated by Liridon Shala
Reviewed by Robert Lokaj

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
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.

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.

More profile about the speaker
Jessica Green | Speaker | TED.com