Amber

Imagine: 150 million years ago, the bark of a conifer tree is gashed by a stegosaurus as it lashes its spiky tail at a snapping theropod. As the dinosaurs thunder past, the conifer oozes healing resin over its wound. The sticky, viscous liquid catches, then traps, a tiny spider that happened to be scuttering by. As the resin hardens, it prevents the spider’s body from decomposing. Then, as many, many years pass, it slowly fossilizes until it becomes the golden, translucent mineral chunk we call amber. This is how, amazingly, we in the 21^st century can still see this exact prehistoric spider, perfectly preserved. In this way, with its warm honey color that seems almost to glow, this precious organic mineral allows us to study our distant past. No wonder humans have long associated it with gods and magic. After all, is it anything short of magical to be able to look with our own eyes at creatures that lived up to 320 million years ago? Truly, this rock can be called nature’s best and most beautiful memory keeper.