https://apnews.com/article/climate-environment-and-nature-fossils-climate-change-dinosaurs-904002ff30d375808639e2f7be88e976

By CHRISTINA LARSONtoday

1 of 18A distinctive fan-shaped ginkgo leaf in the Fossils Atmospheres Project is seen in the morning sun at the Smithsonian Research Center in Edgewater, Md., Tuesday, May 18, 2021. “Ginkgo is a pretty unique time capsule,” said Peter Crane, a Yale University paleobotanist. “It is hard to imagine that these trees, now towering above cars and commuters, grew up with the dinosaurs and have come down to us almost unchanged for 200 million years.” (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Richard Barclay opens a metal drawer in archives of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum containing fossils that are nearly 100 million years old. Despite their age, these rocks aren’t fragile. The geologist and botanist handles them with casual ease, placing one in his palm for closer examination.

Embedded in the ancient rock is a triangular leaf with rounded upper lobes. This leaf fell off a…