• Researchers at Harvard University and the University of Pittsburgh are working to invent materials that could be incorporated in construction to make buildings better-able to regulate their internal conditions and increase energy efficiency.
• Materials for building smart buildings are way ahead of where they used to be, including being less toxic, but we still cannot build buildings that can do what living things can do – regulate their internal environments.
• The researchers have written about the work in this month's issue of the esteemed scientific journal Nature.

From the article:

Smart-building materials have come a long way in the last decade: They're less toxic, more durable and more energy efficient than their predecessors. But the smartest materials available today still can't accomplish something that even the most primitive life forms can do -- keep their internal environment stable as outside conditions change. ...