Proud paleontologists proclaim: It’s a boy!

Ancient marine sediments have yielded what scientists contend is the world’s oldest fossil of malehood. Fossils of ostracods, a type of aquatic bivalve crustacean, typically include only shells, says David J. Siveter of England’s University of Leicester. Now, he and his colleagues have constructed a virtual model of an unusually well-preserved, 5-millimeter-long specimen by grinding away hair-thin layers of rock, photographing the exposed surfaces, and digitally reassembling the slices.