Want fresh air? Give your house a nose job…

• 15:16 08 December 2009 by Paul Marks

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.