[MUSIC] Joan Cartan-Hansen, Host: Why is something stuck in amber considered to be a fossil?

Well, first you have to know what amber is.

Amber is a sticky resin produced by trees.

Living things get trapped in the amber.

Then, over millions of years, the amber hardens with the things inside preserved intact.

These trapped things are called inclusions.

They're also called mummies because they were preserved as they were initially.

That's different than traditional fossils.

In regular fossils, the living parts of the remains are replaced over time by minerals.

More than a thousand extinct species have been preserved in amber.

Things like plant leaves, bugs, even a 99-million-year-old dinosaur tail with feathers.

So, these inclusions are still considered to be fossils.

Amber has one other claim in the scientific world.

The Greek word for amber is elektron.

Ancient Greeks discovered that if you rub amber against a cloth, it produces sparks.

That force was given the name electricity.

For more information about fossils, check out the science trek website.

You'll find it at science trek dot org.