Chu believes that the best source of ideas is to "imitate nature." His current teachers are the microbes in the bodies of termites. One tiny termite tummy has over a hundred types of microbes, and through a complex division of labor they turn the wood fragments swallowed by termites into energy.
朱棣文認為，「效法大自然」是最好的創意來源，他目前正以「白蟻體內的微生物」為師，小小白蟻的胃裡面有上百種微生物，它們透過複雜的分工合作，將白蟻啃食下來的木屑轉換為能量。