I WORKED FOR a number of years, like many people, in an office building with windows that did not open. For the first time in my life, a slight soreness tingled in my throat almost every day. Each time a denizen of that floor got a cold, it decimated at least a third of the floor’s employees. For the next week or two, a swath of cubicles would sit empty. I took to avoiding pressing the water cooler button with a bare hand.
For the sake of energy efficiency, more and more buildings are sealed off completely to the outside world, relying on mechanical ventilation for airflow. But little science has been done to explain how our architectural choices are changing the world of microbes that live inside these buildings—and human health. If I wanted to test whether it was really my office getting me sick (or figure out strategies to avoid it), I wouldn’t have much to go on.