The News Of Tomorrow, Today
The News Of Tomorrow, Today
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An analysis of 30-million-year-old amber has resulted in the discovery of a previously unknown microscopic creature from the Cenozoic period. Bearing a resemblance to tardigrades (aka water bears), these now-extinct “mould pigs,” as they’ve been dubbed, are unlike anything seen before.
On a trip to Indonesia, gemologist Brian Berger purchased an opal that appeared to have an insect entombed inside. Insects trapped in amber are a common-enough sight, but in a slow-forming gemstone like opal?
Millions of years ago, unlucky animals settled in the sticky resin of trees, only to be trapped and preserved until we humans found them. Fossils of the distant future, however, will probably be a whole lot weirder than bugs in tree sap.
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