IFLScience on MSN

Golden ammonites peek out from black shale: What makes these 183-million-year-old fossils so sparkly?

The minerals involved in the fossilization of ancient life can have a dramatic effect on how that fossil turns out. They ...
Time

These Fossils Preserved in Opal Are a Gorgeous, Iridescent Window Into the Past. Scientists Are Fighting to Save Them from the Black Market

A translucent opalized fossil turtle tail bone, donated to the Australian Opal Center by opal miners Graeme and Christine Thompson. A translucent opalized fossil turtle tail bone, donated to the ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Scientists and Miners Team Up to Preserve Opalized Fossils

Opalised fossils from Lightning Ridge, N.S.W, Australia. From the collection of the Australian Opal Center. Clockwise from top left: freshwater snail; plesiosaur tooth; crocodile tooth; pine cone; ...