You can make amber fossils in 24 hours, instead of millions of years

Amber is encoded worldwide as jewelry and a container for prehistoric remains, with more rare specimens that preserve old water, air bubbles, plants, insects or even Birds.

In general, amber forms more millions of years as the resin of the trees fosilizes, but paleontologists have accelerated it, creating amber fossils from the pine resin in 24 hours. The technique could help reveal the biochemistry of amber as it is formed, a process that would otherwise remain hidden in the fog of prehistory.

Posted on Monday in The Journal Scientific ReportsThe results of the rapid fossilization experiment are similar to a meal made in a pressure cooker. “It is similar to an instapot,” said Evan Saitta, an investigation associate at the Chicago Campo Museum and newspaper co -author.

The synthetic amber recipe began with the pine resin of the Chicago Botanical Garden. Dr. Saitta and his co -author, Thomas Kaye, an independent paleontologist, placed half -inch sediment in which the resin was integrated into a device that Mr. Kayo built with a medical pills compressor, air boats and other removed parts.

When heating and pressing the samples, the researchers tried to simulate the diagenesis, the slow and humid physical and chemical transformation required before the sediment is consolidated in rock.

“Diagenesis is the best obstacle you need to become a fossil,” said Dr. Saitta. “It is a kind of final boss.”

Some samples produced by the researchers were imperfect, but some echoed the physical properties of Amber, such as dark coloration, fracture lines, dehydration and increased brightness.

The two also realized that they had begun with the wrong family of Pine Tree. The most often studied amber in paleontology is sciadopitys, a group of trees whose Only the living relative is Japanese umbrella pine.

Maria McNamara, paleontologist at University College Cork in Ireland that did not participate in the study, said future experiments should try additional types of plants.

“What we really want to handle is what resins they polyerize faster,” he said. He also pointed out that a chemical analysis of accelerated amber was necessary to know how close, or not, it was for real things. “The trees resin has survived, but we need a complete and complete chemical characterization,” he said.

For all the limitations of the study, Dr. McNamara said that simulated fossilization was an increasingly important research area. Some paleontologists have recreated Decomposition of bones or tissues To explore microbial effects. In their laboratory, researchers have “Thermally maturation samples to investigate the preservation of the biological molecules under heat.

Without such simulations, “we are only trusting in the fossil registry,” he said. “The experiments help us distinguish the fact of fiction and determine to what extent the fossil record is lying.”

Dr. Saitta has tried other simulations. In 2018, he buried A pinazón In wet sediment to see how it would be compacted. That was messy and without success. But after working with Mr. Kaye on the pressure cooking device, they were more successful studying the previous stages of fossilization of Leaves, feathers and lizard feet. With those specimens, keratin in a pen, for example, lembling, leaving a dark impression similar to melanin similar to a fossilized pen. (In conferences, said Dr. Saitta, likes to try other paleontologists to detect the visual difference between a simulant and a real fossil).

In future Ambar experiments, Dr. Saitta aims to embed insects, feathers or plants in the resin. A reason why this could be useful is that real samples are valuable, some merchandise for thousands of dollars, which makes destructive analysis unfeasible. “An insect preserved in synthetic amber would not be beautiful, since it would be made in a laboratory,” said Dr. Saitta.

Researchers also plan to adapt their technique to the organic material decomposed under pressure and simulate geological weathering. This would capture more realistically plus stages of fossilization.

Looking later, experimental fossilization techniques can even allow scientists to explore the fossils of the future, said Dr. Saitta. How will the life of anthropocene fossilize? What would happen to tissue or infused bone with microplastic or industrial heavy metals?

We will not be here millions of years from now on to find out. But with a pressure cooker device, we can approach.