Researchers had to destroy the world’s oldest penis in order to study it. They used a technique that combining thin-film cutting with computerized data storage. After removing the rock containing the fossil, repeated shavings 20 micrometers thick were cut through the remains. A photograph of each shaving was stored in a computer and later electronically reassembled and eventually combined in cyberspace to create a three-dimensional image of the animal along with its soft parts. The fossil itself, and the amazing organs it contained, is now a collection of microscope slides.