Sask. researchers crack open amber and find 44-million-year-old 'window to the past'

A team of researchers found organic matter in an ancient beetle fossilized in amber. (Photo provided by the U of R)

A team of researchers from the University of Regina (U of R) and Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM) identified organic matter found in a 44-million-year-old beetle fossilized in amber.

Researchers from the U of R and the RSM, as well as the Institute of Life Sciences and Technologies at Daugavpils University in Latvia, used a set of advanced techniques they haven’t tried before to discover the organic matter.

“We took a 44-million-year-old beetle trapped in Baltic amber to see if it was possible that any preserved organic material might be present,” Jerit Mitchell, U of R masters of science student and lead author of the study, said in a news release announcing the find.

Amber is a semi-precious stone that is fossilized tree resin that often contains fossilized remains of insects or other small creatures, with little, if any, organic matter left.

Similar to what was seen in “Jurassic Park,” the dinosaurs were brought to life through DNA found in amber. The DNA supposedly came from mosquitoes that had taken blood from dinosaurs before being trapped in tree resin that turned to amber, the release said.

The team used the synchrotron radiation facilities at the University of Saskatchewan’s Canadian Light Source in Saskatoon to extract high-resolution micro-computed tomography in 3D.

“[This] gave us the capability to identify possible organic compounds in the specimen,” said Dr. Mauricio Barbi, a U of R Physics professor in the release.

“We then complemented these two synchrotron radiation techniques by using a scanning electron microscope to provide further high-resolution images of the beetle and to determine the specific chemical elements present in the sample.”

The remains of organic chitin, one of the main components of the exoskeleton of insects is what was preserved, according to Dr. Ryan McKellar, adjust biology professor at the U of R and curator of palaeontology at the RSM.

“This observation is of great importance because it opens a window to the past that allows us to be able to picture these animals in a more life-like way. This allows us to be able to compare this ancient beetle to modern insects to examine evolutionary and ecological developments,” he said in the release.

According to Mitchell, the act of cracking open amber to look for organic matter hasn’t really been attempted since the 1990s due to experimental issues with the technique.

“For the last two decades, this technique has really fallen out of favour. But, for a variety of reasons, such as easier access to the advanced technologies of the CLS facility, we found this type of research much more feasible in 2023,” he said.

The amber breaking research opens up possibilities for future studies but dinosaur DNA found in amber remains in the field of science fiction, the release said.

The research team also included Dr. Ian Coulson, geology professor at the U of R, and Dr. Andris Bukejs, researcher at the Institute of Life Sciences and Technologies at Daugavpils University in Latvia.

Their findings and methodology were published in Nature’s Scientific Reports.