I started life as a fashion designer, working closely with textile designers and fabric suppliers.
刚开始我是一名时尚设计师，和纺织品设计师与面料供应商密切合作。
But today, I can no longer see or talk to my new collaborators, because they're in the soil beneath our feet,
但今天，我已看不见我的新晋合作伙伴，也没法与它们对话，因为它们在脚下的泥土里，
on the shelves of our supermarkets and in the beer I'm going to drink when I finish this talk.
在超市的货架上，以及这次演讲后我将畅饮的啤酒里。
I'm talking about microbes and designing with life.
我指的是微生物，以及用生物进行设计。
Fifteen years ago, I completely changed both what I worked with and how I worked after a revelatory collaboration with a biologist.
十五年前，在和一位生物学家启发式的合作后，我彻底改变了工作的对象以及工作的方式。
Our project gave me a different perspective on life,
我们的项目给了我看待生命的不同视角，
introducing a whole new world of possibility around how we can design and make things.
围绕我们如何设计与制造物品打开了充满可能性的全新世界。
I discovered a radical manufacturing proposition: biofabrication.
我发现了一种变革式的制造理念：生物制造。
Literally, fabricating with biology. What does that mean?
如字面意义，用生物学制造。这是什么意思？
Well, instead of processing plants, animals or oil to make consumer materials,
不通过加工植物、动物或原油获得消费品材料，
we might grow materials directly with living organisms.
而是直接用生物体培养材料。
In what many are terming "the Fourth Industrial Revolution," we're thinking about the new factories as being living cells.
在很多人称为“第四次工业革命”的进程中，我们在考虑将活细胞作为新的工厂。
Bacteria, algae, fungi, yeast: our latest design tools include those of biotechnology.
细菌、藻类、真菌、酵母：我们最新的设计工具包括了生物科技。
My own journey in biofabrication started with a project called "Biocouture."
我自己的生物制造旅程是由一个名为“Biocouture”（生物服装）的项目开始的。
The provocation was that instead of growing a plant, like cotton, in a field over several months,
其发想在于，并不是花费几个月时间在地里栽培作物，比如棉花；
we could use microbes to grow a similar cellulose material in a lab in a few days.
而是只用几天时间，在实验室里用微生物培养出类似的纤维材料。
Using a certain species of bacteria in a nutrient-rich liquid,
在营养丰富的培养液里用一特定种类的细菌，
we fermented threads of cellulose that self-organized into a sheet of fabric.
我们将纤维素的线发酵，它们自行编组形成了一张布料。
I dried the fabric I had grown and cut and sewed it into a range of garments, shoes and bags.
我晾干自己培养的布料后，把它剪开，缝制成了各种衣物、鞋子和手袋。
In other words, in one lab we grew materials and turned them into a range of products in a matter of days.
换句话说，在实验室里，我们培养材料并把它们转换成一系列产品只需要几天时间。
And this is in contrast to currents methods of fabric production,
与之对比鲜明的是当今的织物生产工艺：
where a plant is grown, just the cotton part is harvested, processed into a yarn,
种植作物，仅收获棉花部分，处理制成纱线，
woven into a fabric and then potentially shipped across oceans before being cut and sewn into a garment.
纺织成面料，可能被海运至各地，再裁剪、缝制成衣物。
All of that can take months. So these prototypes indicated a field offering significant resource efficiencies.
所有这些工序可能会花上好几个月的时间。因此，生物制造的原型显示了这个领域能显著提升资源效率。
From reducing the water, energy and chemistry needed in the production of a material, through to generating zero waste,
从减少生产材料的工序所需的水、能源和化学品，到实现零废料，
we grew fabrics to finished form -- if you like, "biological additive manufacture."
我们培养织物，使其生成成品--如果想的话，可以称之为“生物添加制造”。
Through biofabrication, I had replaced many intensive man-made steps with one biological step.
通过生物制造，我可以用一个生物工序步骤取代许多步高强度的人工工艺。
And as I engaged with this living system, it transformed my design thinking.
当我开始使用这个生物系统，它便转变了我的设计理念。
Here was biology, with no intervention from me other than designing initial conditions for growth,
这就是生物学，除了设计培养的初始条件，不需我多加干预，
efficiently producing a useful, sustainable material.
就能高效地生产有用的、可持续的材料。
So now I can't help but see all materials through the lens of biofabrication.
现在，我无法不透过生物制造的镜片去审视所有材料。
In fact, there's a growing global community of innovators rethinking materials with biology.
事实上，已经有一个日益壮大的全球性革新者团体，正在用生物学重新思考材料。
Multiple companies are now growing mushroom materials, but not literally mushrooms
若干公司现在正在培养蘑菇材料，并不是字面意义的蘑菇，
using mycelium, which is the root system of fungi, to bind together agricultural byproducts.
而是使用菌类的根系统，菌丝体，将农业副产品结合在一起。
It's a process that's been described as "nature's glue."
这个过程被称为“自然胶水”。
A common way to do this is to take a 3-D mold, fill it with a waste crop like corn stalks or hemp, add water,
常见做法是在三维模具中填满玉米杆或亚麻籽之类的废弃作物，加上水，
wait a few days for the mycelium to grow throughout, remove the mold, and you're left with a grown 3-D form.
等几天让菌丝体充分生长，移除模具，就得到了长成的三维形体。
Incredibly, we can grow all kinds of structures using living organisms,
不可思议的是，我们可以用生物体培养各式各样的结构，
from foams that can replace plastics in footwear, to leather-like materials without animals.
从可以取代鞋履中塑料的泡沫，到不需要动物的类皮革材料。
Furniture, flooring -- all are currently being prototyped.
家具、地板--这些都在试制过程中。
Fungi are able to grow materials that are naturally fire retardant, without any chemicals.
真菌可以生成天然耐火材料，不需要化学添加剂。
They're naturally hydrophobic, meaning they won't absorb water.
它们天生就具疏水性，意思是它们不会吸收水分。
They have higher melt temperatures than plastics. Polystyrene can take thousands of years to degrade.
它们比塑料的熔点要高。聚苯乙烯要花费数千年才能降解。
Mushroom packaging materials can be naturally composted in your back garden in as little as 30 days.
蘑菇制包装材料只需30天就能在你的后花园里变成天然堆肥。
Living organisms are transforming waste into cost-competitive, performance-matching materials
生物体正在将废弃物转换成成本低廉、性能相当的材料，
that can start to replace plastics and other CO2-emitting materials.
可以开始取代塑料和其他排放二氧化碳的材料。

And once we start growing materials with living organisms, it starts to make previous methods of manufacture seem illogical.
而当我们开始用生物培养材料后，它便开始让先前的制造工艺显得不合逻辑。
Take the humble house brick. The cement industry generates around eight percent of global CO2 emissions.
比方说平凡的砖块。全球8%的二氧化碳排放是由水泥行业产生的。
That's more than all the planes and ships each year.
这比每年飞机和轮船排放得都多。
The cement process requires materials to be fired in a kiln at over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Compare this to bioMASON.
加工水泥需要在水泥窑里烧制材料，达到1100摄氏度以上的高温。与之相比的是bioMASON（生物泥瓦匠）。
They use a soil microbe to transform loose aggregates, like sand or crushed stone, into a biofabricated, or biocement, brick.
他们使用一种土壤微生物，将砂砾或碎石之类的碎颗粒转换成生物制造的砖头，又称生物水泥砖。
Their process happens at room temperature, in just a couple of days. Think: hydroponics for bricks.
这个反应过程在室温进行，只需要几天时间。想象一下：水培法制砖。
An irrigation system feeds nutrient-rich water to trays of bricks that have been inoculated with bacteria.
一个灌溉系统把富含营养的水喂给接种了细菌的一盘盘砖。
The bacteria produce crystals that form around each grain of sand, locking together all the loose particles to form a solid brick.
细菌产生晶体包裹住每一粒沙，将这些碎颗粒紧紧锁住，形成一块结实的砖。
We can now grow construction materials in the elegant way nature does, just like a coral reef.
我们现在能像自然那样优雅地培养建筑材料，就像珊瑚礁一样。
And these biofabricated bricks are nearly three times stronger than a concrete block.
这些生物制造的砖块比混凝土砖坚固近三倍。
And in stark contrast to traditional cement production, they store more carbon than they make.
而与传统水泥工艺对比鲜明的是，它们贮存的碳比产生的碳还多。
So if we could replace the 1.2 trillion fired bricks that are made each year with biofabricated bricks,
如果我们能用生物制造的砖头取代每年烧制的1.2万亿块炉砖，
we could reduce CO2 emissions by 800 million tons every year.
那么我们每年就能减少8亿吨二氧化碳排放。
Beyond growing materials with living organisms, we're even starting to design products that encourage their growth.
除了用生物培养材料，我们甚至开始设计鼓励它们生长的产品。
And this comes from the realization that the very thing we've been trying to marginalize -- life
这是由于意识到了我们试图边缘化的事物，即生物，
might actually be our greatest collaborator.
恰恰可能是我们最有力的合作者。
To that end, we've been exploring all the ways that we can grow healthy microbes in our own ecosystems.
为此，我们在探索能在我们自己的生态系统中培养健康微生物的各种办法。
A great example of this is architects who are imagining the skin of a building to function like the bark of a tree.
一个很好的例子是，建筑师们在设想让建筑的表皮像树皮一样运作。
But not as a cosmetic green layer. They're designing architectural barks as hosts for evolving ecologies.
但并不是作为美观的绿化层。他们在设计建筑用树皮作为演变生态的宿主。
These surface structures are designed to invite life in.
这些表层结构的设计欢迎生物入住。
And if we applied the same energy we currently do suppressing forms of life towards cultivating life,
如果我们将现在用于抑制生物的能量用在培育生命上，
we'd turn the negative image of the urban jungle into one that literally embodies a thriving, living ecosystem.
我们就能把都市森林的负面形象转换成承载了生机盎然的生态系统的图景。
By actively encouraging surface interactions with healthy microbes,
通过积极地鼓励与健康微生物在表层的互动，
we could improve passive climate control, stormwater management
我们可以改善被动气候调控，雨水管理，
and even reduce CO2 emissions by lowering the energy used to heat or cool our buildings.
甚至能通过减少为建筑物制冷或制热的能源，降低二氧化碳排放。
We're just beginning to realize the potential of nature-based technologies.
我们才刚刚开始意识到基于自然的科技的潜力。
I'm excited that we're starting to design and biofabricate a new material world.
我们正开始设计并用生物制造一个崭新的材料世界，对此我感到十分激动。
It's one that moves away from the exploitation of nonrenewable resources to working with the original, renewable life.
这种科技远离对不可再生资源的滥用，转而与原始的、可再生的生命合作。
Instead of designing out life, we're designing with it and for it.
我们不是将生物排除于设计外，而是与生物一起设计，为生物进行设计。
Packaging, fashion, footwear, furniture, construction -- biofabricated products can be grown close to centers of demand,
包装、时尚、鞋履、家具、建筑--生物制造的产品可以在接近需求中心的地方进行培养，
with local resources, less land, energy, and even harnessing industrial waste streams.
使用当地资源，占地与耗能更少，甚至能利用工业废料流。
It used to be that the tools of biotechnology were the preserve of powerful, multinational chemical and biotech companies.
曾经，生物科技的工具只是强大的跨国化学与生物科技公司的专属品。
In the last century, we expected material innovation to come from the likes of DuPont, Dow, BASF.
在上个世纪，我们期待的是由陶氏杜邦、陶氏化学、巴斯夫集团带来的材料革新。
But this 21st-century material revolution is being led by start-ups with small teams and limited capital.
但这次21世纪的材料革命，其发起者是团队小、资金有限的创业公司。
And by the way, not all their founders have science degrees. They include artists, architects and designers.
顺便提一下，它们的创始人并不全是理科出身。其中包括了艺术家、建筑师、设计师。
Over a billion dollars has already been invested in start-ups biofabricating consumer products.
生物制造消费者产品的创业公司已经吸纳了超过十亿美元的投资。
I don't think we have a choice but to biofabricate our future.
我觉得，我们没有比生物制造的未来更好的选择。
From the jacket you're wearing to the chair you're sitting in to the home you live in,
从你穿着的夹克，到你坐着的椅子，到你居住的房屋，
your designed material world shouldn't compromise your health or that of our planet.
设计出的材料世界不应损害你的健康，或者地球的健康。
If materials can't be recycled or naturally composted at home, we should reject them.
如果材料无法回收利用或在家里自然降解，我们应当拒绝它们。
I'm committed to making this future a reality by shining a light on all the amazing work being done today
我将致力于实现这样的未来，为此我会关注今天正在进行的所有令人叹服的工作，
and by facilitating more interactions between designers, scientists, investors and brands.
并促进设计师、科学家、投资者与品牌之间的更多互动。
Because we need a material revolution, and we need it now. Thank you.
因为我们需要一次材料革命，就在当下。谢谢。