Additional posts on X (formerly Twitter), Reddit and Facebook have received tens of thousands of likes, shares and comments on posts about Latimer's experiment, amazed by its ingenuity and endurance.

However, a closed jar will get very humid, forming its own self-watering ecosystem, requiring plants that thrive in this environment. Of course, the plants also need to be small enough to fit.

What happens when you create a tiny, living world in a tank? 🌿 I built a self-sustaining ecosystem featuring moss, isopods, dart frogs, and even geckos. Discover the magic of life in this ...

For our purposes, it’s a self-contained, self-sustaining mini-world that you can keep in a jar on your desk.