If you want to watch an entertaining video introduction to why the microbiology of the built environment is really important to you (and all of us), you must watch this video — Meet your microbes.
The other day, I asked Jonathan Eisen why his Ted Talk was not linked on the microbe.net web site and suggested that it should be. I asked if it might be some sort of humility or reluctance to promote his own talk. Jonathan acknowledged that was the case. So, now it is.
“The microbial community in and on us is a community… We should treat it with respect.”
“Meet your microbes” starts with Jonathan’s very personal tale about the importance of the thousands and thousands of microbes on and in us, or, importantly, not on and in us. Our skin, gut, and respiratory tract are our connection to the world around us. This is fundamentally why the built environment is so important to us. If you don’t get it yet, watch the video and spend some time with the resources on this site and in our Mendeley collection.
A few days later, it still was not on the website, so I asked Jonathan whether he would object to my posting it here. He did not object, and here it is. Watch it now. This is a really great intro to some of what is so important about the microbes that surround us and abound on and in us.
As a by-product of our dialogue, I have pushed on having this as a permanent and conspicuous link on the web site, and it will reside in a prominent place.
http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_eisen_meet_your_microbes.html
What, you may ask, is the relevance of the built environment to the microbes that live in and on us? Well, that is a lot of what the microBEnet project and the Sloan Foundation program, “Microbiology of the Built Environment” are all about. So if you haven’t explored all the resources that have been compiled on this web site, you owe it to yourself to spend a few minutes checking out all the resources, links, simple guides, publications, Sloan Foundation grants, and social media outlets that are posted here for your information and use. This is our invitation to you to contribute if you don’t see some valuable resources that ought to be here. This is a collective endeavor; microBEnet is the host and facilitator. Your feedback and participation are invited.