We will discuss the behavior of an elementary quantum system (atom, quantum dot, …) interacting with an environment out of thermal equilibrium. We show how the internal atomic dynamics can be deeply affected by the non equilibrium configuration leading to unexpected phenomena like a spontaneous inversion of population, new cooling mechanisms obtained by heating the system, and the possibility to create and protect entanglement in a stationary and robust way [1,2,3]. ---------------- References: [1] B. Bellomo, R. Messina, and M. Antezza, Europhys. Lett. 100, 20006 (2012); Phys. Rev. A 87, 012101 (2013). [2] B. Bellomo and M. Antezza, New Journal of Physics 15, 113052 (2013); Europhys. Lett. 104, 10006 (2013). [3] R. Messina and M. Antezza, Europhys. Lett. 95, 61002 (2011); Phys. Rev. A 84, 042102 (2011); Phys. Rev. A in press, arXiv:1402.2506 (2014).