"Central heating may keep your house warm, but it can also make the air stuffy. A new ventilation system that works like the nose of a small desert rat might let your house "breathe", freshening the air while maintaining cosiness. So claims Steven Vogel of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Like some other desert creatures, the bipedal kangaroo rat, he says, helps maintain its body temperature using a clever nasal architecture. On exhaling, the rat's nasal passageways are heated by the outgoing air. When it inhales, those warmed passageways heat the incoming air. This heat exchange ensures little body heat is lost." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet