"With biomimicry we're able to apply fresh thinking to traditional manufacturing, to undo the toxic and energy-intensive mistakes of the past," said Benyus, who is part of a group that hopes to lead a new revolution in design by imitating nature. "I wish we had been at the design table at the Industrial Revolution."

In natural systems, nothing is wasted, since everything can be used by something else. Instead of using large inputs of energy and toxic chemicals to make things and ship them across the globe, nature makes what it needs where it needs it, with water-based chemistry.

These designs suggest some of what could be learned by applying the lessons of biomimicry to the problem of air-conditioning in particular. (See