I know it is a bit late but I just discovered this story about how May has been declared “Building Safety Month” in Tennessee: Governor Haslam Proclaims May as Building Safety Month. This appears to be mostly a public awareness campaign but hopefully it will (or has) gotten people in Tennessee to think about “Building science” …
Good to see builders putting money into the academic side of building science: Home builder donates $10 million to U of A to make construction greener. Not sure if this builder has a good or a bad or a middle of the road track record in any way but 10 million dollars to help start the …
Well, I wish I had known that this was going to happen: Need to Know: Innovations in building science | Al Jazeera America. If I had known I would have tried to add a microbial sampling component to the visit to the UC Davis West Davis Village by Phil Torres and Cara Santa Maria. Anyway – …
Quick post – just saw this Tweet from the Airmid Healthgroup Your home’s odor may be making you sick; microbial volatile organic compounds http://t.co/8M7U84L5Oi via @USATODAY – Airmid Healthgroup (@AirmidHealth) May 13, 2014 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js It points to a story in USA Today by Melissa Pandika that may be of interest – Your home’s odor may be …
Well this is interesting. Holly Bik pointed me to the fact that the Clinton Global Initiative has a track on the Built Environment:About Us: The Built Environment | Clinton Global Initiative. Not sure exactly what they do in this track but seems like a good way to get exposure for the field of microbiology of …
Not actually Danish chickens. (cc-by-nc river seal)One of the most coveted chores at my high school was to feed our school’s chickens. The chickens provided eggs for the students, faculty, staff and our extensive Meals on Wheels program. I always thought it was the best chore assignment you could ask for; the hen house had …
Well, Jane Brody in “The Well” in the New York Times has a story that is a good example of microbiology of the built environment: A Viral Misery That Loves Company. In it she details her own experiences with Norovirus. And she also discusses how this virus spreads readily in the built environment – day care …
Just read this from NPR – In The Face Of Disaster, Pritzker Winner Shigeru Ban Designs Solutions : NPR. It tells the story of how architect Shigeru Ban has won the prestigious Pritzker Prize in architecture. In addition to being a very socially conscious architect, Ban also has an interesting connection to microbes and building design. …
There are a bunch of stories out in relation to work from MIT on “Living Materials” See MIT News Engineers design ‘living materials’ Value Walk MIT Scientists Develop Living Materials Using 3-D Images Of Bacteria Gizmodo MIT’s Living E. Coli Materials Could Provide Self-Aware Surfaces The Register RISE of the LIVING CHAIR: Boffins recruit E coli to build futuristic …
There was a recent flash in the news about the ‘5-second rule’ when a group of microbiologists at Aston University in the UK released results from a study (that, from what I can tell, is unpublished). The summary reads, “The study…monitored the transfer of the common bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus from …