In March of 1982 in Science magazine, Roberta Hess and George Poinar, Jr. announced that the discovery of cellular components in embedded insects. Their efforts to try and sequence the possible DNA failed. However, since then many advances in DNA cloning have occurred. Now, even DNA from fingerprints can be analyzed. One unique thing about inclusions in amber is that the animals are not fossils in the classic sense.
Most fossils are the imprint or bony remains of an organism.
Recently even the air bubbles that reside in different a mbers have been analyzed to determined the composition of an atmosphere at that time. It is with these that the future dreams of research reside. When students view the sample, the same excitement that I have always felt surges through them. Showing the amber sample and relating it to the geologic time line, or life as it was in the prehistoric time is particularly effective. With an over head projector, a dissecting microscope or just hand held observation, students experience awe in seeing the real creature.