Have you heard of Ambient Devices? They make networked objects that kind of glow based on stock-market data or weather information. Tobie Kerridge though has created Life Event, a networked object in a league of its own.
Life Event tracks the status of a prisoner on death row in Texas, using the Justice Department website. When the execution of prisoner 990 is reported on the site, the object will turn on. Brine shrimp - or Sea Monkeys - are injected into the salt water, a pump and light source are triggered and the organisms will be fed periodically by the second syringe. A living environment is initiated as a result of the execution. Until that time Life Event is mechanically and biologically dormant.