Curiosities; Eco Spheres

Inside these sealed glass balls live shrimp, algae, and bacteria, all swimming around in filtered seawater. Put it somewhere with some light, and this little ecosystem will chug along happily for years, no feeding or cleaning necessary, totally oblivious to the fact that the rest of the world exists outside.

Eco Spheres came out of research looking at ways to develop self-contained ecosystems for long duration space travel. They're like little microcosms for the entire world, 

It would be for someone who  has no garden, nor time to look after pot plants, but still wanting something living around. In secret, I feel  sorry for the algae and shrimps to be contained in this sealed glass sphere… instead of tumbling around in a lake or sea or some normal, natural environment.