Ambers are valuable research objects because they preserve inclusions of ancient plants and animals over millions of years, making it possible to draw conclusions about past ecosystems, as well as current biomes. Researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin and the American Museum of Natural History New York, in cooperation with five other research institutes from Germany, France and Austria, have published new recommendations in the scientific journal Earth-Science Reviews on how to preserve vulnerable amber collections as a global and scientific heritage for posterity and how to document and study the encased fossils.