This insect was trapped alive for 30,000,000 Years (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by SpaceFacts@lemmy.world to c/science@lemmy.world

36 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A praying mantis preserved in amber for millions of years not a sculpture, but a real prehistoric insect trapped in tree resin and fossilized into a natural time capsule.

An entire moment from ancient Earth… frozen before humans even existed.

Check out : https://www.natureknows.org/2024/02/30-million-year-old-praying-mantis-is.html

all 37 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 40 points 3 weeks ago

It was absolutely not trapped alive for 30,000,000 years...

It got stuck in tree sap, and it died, and 30,000,000 years later it's dead body is still in there.

It's also wasn't some instant snapshot of a moment, it most likely got stuck and then slowly covered until it could no longer breathe.

[-] SippyCup@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago

It was probably upside down when the sap flowed over it. It's antennae are completely vertical and would have been carried in the direction of the sap. Probably suffocated pretty quick, though it's elevated forelimbs might have allowed it to struggle to breathe briefly as it was consumed by sap.

[-] errer@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Real question: if the amber prevents the mantis from decaying, and its cells are still intact, is it actually dead? Do we know that for sure?

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Yeah...

Insects breathe thru oxygen exchange thru skin.

You cover up all their skin in amber, they suffocate just like when a kid doesn't poke holes in a jar lid.

Because there's no oxygen, the bacteria also dies and no decay happens.

It's the same as a peat bog corpse. There's no life, it's just with the complete absence of life there's no decay. And the amber seals in moisture so there's no dessication either.

Now on the flips side:

It's not immediate. An old "jail house magic trick" is catch a live fly, put it in a bottle of water, and wait till the mark agrees it's dead. The bet/grift is you can bring it back to life.

And you can, by rolling it in salt for a few seconds, it will get up and fly away.

You have seconds to bring it back, less than a minute

Much, much shorter than 30,000,000 years, that mantis ain't coming back.

[-] crapwittyname@feddit.uk 6 points 3 weeks ago

they suffocate just like when a kid doesn't poke holes in a jar lid.

That shouldn't be up to the kid, it should be up to whoever captured the kid and put them in a jar.

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

This is the problem with society today...

Back in my day, we had to poke our own airholes!

[-] axh@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Real answer: yes, it's as dead as anyone can be. 2 seconds after your death, your body isn't decaying yet, but that doesn't make you alive. Bodies kept in the freezers didn't decay but still, are not alive at all.

If the mantis didn't suffocate somehow, it would die of hunger or old age.

[-] errer@lemmy.world -1 points 3 weeks ago

I guess the question is, what distinguishes a “dead” cell from a “live” one if it is not in decay? What makes this Mantis impossible to revive?

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

What makes this Mantis impossible to revive?

Same reason CPR works right after someone drowns but not after they've been underwater a week...

You see, every cell has a "powerhouse" that turns stuff, including oxygen, into energy.

They keep a store of oxygen and food in every cell, respiration removes the waste and delivers resources.

Cut off respiration, and things start to shut down. Higher order systems first, and individual cells last.

That's why sometimes CPR works, but it took so long that the brain was deprived of oxygen and suffers damage. Everything was deprived of oxygen, but the most complicated shit needs the most and runs out first.

An insect can be "brought back" after a much longer time than a human without problems, but there's still a clock before each cell runs out of "on hand" resources and die. Whether or not decay happens after is completely separate.

For the absolutely most basic things like virus or bacteria, or even water bears, they've adapted to be able to spring back after a long time, sometimes thousands or tens of thousands of years...

But a mantis is just too complicated. Especially after 30 million years.

[-] naught101@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Most of the proteins within the cell would denature over (a fairly short) time, which means all the cell functions would fail. The cell membranes would also rupture and dissolve or rot eventually. Only the hard keratin exoskeleton would remain reasonably intact.

[-] PrimeMinisterKeyes@leminal.space 1 points 3 weeks ago

The premise is wrong, though. Resin tends to be acidic. You know what doesn't like acid treatment? Chitin, on account of being a polysaccharide.
And even - or especially - if the resin was perfectly neutral, it would slowly suck the fats stored in the insect's tissues out of the same.
Plus the O~2~ that's slowly diffusing in - and out - of the resin will, especially in connection with sunlight, decompose more and more stuff.
Whatever the decomposition processes are, you can see an orange-tinted sort of halo around the mantis. That's the mixing zone - mantis molecules, meet resin molecules.

[-] slothrop@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago

You're hereby *dis-invited* to my Biggest Fish party.

[-] webp@mander.xyz 1 points 3 weeks ago

no way

[-] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 27 points 3 weeks ago

My god 30 million years, trapped in amber, alive? What madness lies behind those eyes? Can we only pray he never escapes his prison?

[-] inari@piefed.zip 18 points 3 weeks ago

Praying didn't help the mantis, did it?

[-] vanitasvanitatum@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

Valid point

[-] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

The Jaunt is real

[-] Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 3 weeks ago

Longer than you think,lonGER THAN YOU THINK!!!

[-] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Doc... it's eternity in there

[-] yenahmik@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

So I'm hearing that being trapped in amber results in immortality. Quick, someone tell the billionaires a new cure for death has been discovered!

[-] realitista@lemmus.org 10 points 3 weeks ago

I think he's dead man.

[-] prex@aussie.zone 8 points 3 weeks ago

[-] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago

Lovely plummage.

[-] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 weeks ago

I'm surely no expert, but I'd make an educated guess that this Lil fellow has died a good while ago and isn't trapped alive for 30 gazillion years.

[-] groucho@retrolemmy.com 3 points 3 weeks ago

Either that or it really has to go to the bathroom now.

[-] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I fucking hate AI write ups! It's always the same sentence structure which has "not this or that, but such such." I'm not inherently opposed to AI, but seriously, I dread what will literacy be like for decades to come because even art and writing will be outsourced to AI. This will blunt even the most basic writing skills of humanity! I'm starting to sympathise more and more with John from "Brave New World". The "savages" have more soul than those who live in technology.

[-] Butterphinger@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 weeks ago

What happens next will shock you.

[-] uninvitedguest@piefed.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago

Sold for $6,000 10 years ago? That seems incredibly cheap, not that I am versed in fossilized amber collection.

[-] Zozano@aussie.zone 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Can we use science to revive them?

Think of the questions we could ask!

Also, let it fight Baki.

[-] Sxan@piefed.zip 3 points 3 weeks ago

Genuine titlegore!

Beautiful piece of amber.

[-] 20cello@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Where's your god now

[-] jdr@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 weeks ago

It must have gotten really bored

[-] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Hey guys, I think i found a solution to the slug, fuck the titanium sphere, this evidently works better

[-] FrChazzz@lemmus.org 1 points 3 weeks ago

Fun fact I picked up not too long ago: genetically, mantises are closer relatives to cockroaches than other insects. Lots of people have assumed that they were related to grasshoppers (in the Hawaiian language, the praying mantis is called something like "praying grasshopper" for instance). But nope. Green, cute, cockroach cousins.

This also lead me to my pet theory that we'd not have nearly as big a problem with cockroaches if they were green.