Nature and the physical, until now guaranteed components of the quotidian, are being repositioned as the purveyors of a tangible mode of experience that is gradually giving way to a virtual one. In this context, the distinction (or conflation) between the organic and the artificial is particularly relevant. Within the historical perspective of the early collections of natural history-where the organic and the artificial once happily cohabited--I will address the role of nature vis-a-vis technology in contemporary culture.