Burmese amber preserves a rainforest

Around 99 million years ago resin from conifers in a tropical forest on a drifting terrane traps insects, spiders, flowers, feathers, snakes, lizards and a feathered dinosaur tail, and hardens into amber that preserves them intact rather than flattened. It is the richest window we have onto mid-Cretaceous terrestrial life. The deposits also carry a serious ethical problem: much of the material is mined in an active conflict zone in Kachin State and sold through channels that fund the fighting, and several journals now restrict publication of specimens collected after 2017.