Within the confines of the small Baltic amber bead shown below, a tiny fly is surrounded by a tiny universe of bubbles, prehistoric plant and animal debris, and a rich microscopic geography of fissures, layers, and swirls. Deep within this golden matrix are ancient gases and water, minerals, and myriad bio-organic molecules that were produced as much as forty million years in the past. Though long extinct, this fly is a very close relative of dark wing fungus gnats (sciarid flies) that are plentiful today.