Imaging insects in amber

Amber is an amazing time capsule, preserving minute and delicate creatures that lived millions of years before humans appeared on this planet. According to finds made in pieces of amber from different places, ancient forests were full of bugs and studying them makes our understanding of the long-gone ecosystem more complete. Of course, the information we get from amber is biased towards woodlands and the size of the creatures that can be trapped by resin produced by the trees. Nevertheless, amber fascinates many scientists and collectors. To reveal structural details, the inclusions are imaged with various techniques, including X-ray tomography. We decided to do it using laser scanning microscope. The microscope illuminates the specimen with laser light of several colors and measures fluorescence and reflected light in several spectral bands. The software combines the images creating a composite or merged image of an insect. The images look colorful, kind of artistic and contain small details that would b