Fish tanks and fern cases

The Victorians loved to collect creatures from nature and bring them indoors as ornament-- making butterfly collections, pressed flowers, and even microscope slides with tastefully arranged diatoms. But two inventions allowed them to bring a bit of the natural world into their house, not dead and preserved, but living and thriving in an enclosed habitat.

One was the aquarium, which made a fine centerpiece: 

Another was the Wardian Case, a sort of miniature greenhouse. Ferns were especially popular for these cases, in a fad known as Pteridomania:

Mandelbrot Star

Another 3D variation on the Mandelbrot Set, somewhat resembling a Melocactus or the shells of sea urchins:  

Spy crows

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THE United States military funded research into using networks of 'spy crows' to locate soldiers who are missing in action, and extended the work to see if the birds might be useful in helping them to find Osama bin Laden. The idea may seem far-fetched, but unlike some military research programs (such as the Stargate remote-viewing program) it is actually based on sound science.

From Neurophilosophy. See here for more on the intelligence and memory abilities of crows.

Petals and thorns

Phronima

This tiny transparent marine crustacean constructs itself a floating shelter by killing a salp and hollowing out its barrel-shaped body.