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This 119 million year old fish, Rhacolepis, is the first fossil to show a 3D preserved heart which gives us a rare window into the early evolution of one of our body’s most important organs. Dr John Maisey, American Museum of Natural History in New York

The first fossilised heart ever found in a prehistoric animal

For centuries, the fossil remains of back-boned animals were studied primarily from their hardened bones. Now palaeontologists can study the softer side of these ancient creatures.
Tasmania’s bushfires damaged pristine bushland and stretched emergency services to the limit. AAP Image/Patrick Caruana

Was Tasmania’s summer of fires and floods a glimpse of its climate future?

This summer has seen Tasmania suffer through drought, bushfires, floods and the worst marine heatwave on record. Is this what life under a climate-changed future will be like?
The recent earthquakes in Japan and Ecuador were large, but were they connected? EPA/Everett Kennedy Brown

Are the Japanese and Ecuador earthquakes related?

When two major earthquakes occur within days of each other thousands of kilometres apart, it can look like they’re connected. But are they? Here’s what the science says.
Even if you’ve never read or seen any of Shakespeare’s works, his influence has touched your life. Photo credits, clockwise from top: Kevin Lamarque, public domain, public domain, public domain, public domain, Mike Tsikas, 20th Century Fox, Mike Hutchings

Marx, Freud, Hitler, Mandela, Greer… Shakespeare influenced them all

In the almost 400 years since Shakespeare’s death, his words have been enlisted by an extraordinary range of historical figures. Even the Nazis tried to claim him as a ‘Germanic’ writer.
Under construction: it’s extremely hard to measure productivity in construction or any other sector. AAP Image/Richard Wainwright

Budget explainer: the problem with measuring productivity

Voters will hear a lot about productivity in the lead up to the budget. The key thing to remember is that it’s a very rubbery concept, enormously tricky to measure and highly politicised.
Modern debates around breastfeeding would be eerily familiar to someone from the 18th or 19th century. The Fashionable Mamma, James Gillroy, 1796. The British Museum.

A decent woman? The breastfeeding and visibility debate is nothing new

Regular controversies over breastfeeding might seem like a quirk of contemporary life. But 18th and 19th century clothing reveal that women have been handling the issue of visibility and practicality for centuries.
Despite the obvious limitations, we still keep trying to do many things at the same time. Andrea Allen/Flickr

Health Check: can people actually multitask?

Research regularly shows when people try to do two things at once, they tend to do both tasks more poorly than if they’d only attempted one at a time.