Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

Yacold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.

.jp. That's Y-A-K-U-L-T.C-O.J-P. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacult.

This is Scientific American's 60-second science. I'm Christopher in Taliatta.

Fossilized skulls and skeletons found in European caves

gave us our first glimpse of our ancient cousins the Neanderthals.

And a fingerbone found in a Siberian cave

first indicated the existence of another relative, the Denisovans.

But fossils are hard to come by.

So here's another option, analyze cave floors to see if they contain any DNA.

We find ancient hominins, we find Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA and Denisovan mitochondrial DNA.

Vivian Sloan, a geneticist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany.

She and her team found that molecular evidence by testing teaspoonfuls of sediment from seven different caves,

and they screen specifically for mitochondrial DNA, because there's a lot more copies of it in cells,

compared to nucleus DNA, which has just one set per cell.

The researchers uncovered genetic evidence of denisivans you might expect, at Denisov a cave in Siberia, which showed that their

strategy was sound. They found Neanderthal DNA there too, and at three of the other seven caves,

including a cave where no Neanderthal fossils have ever been found, only artifacts and animal bones.

And they found the DNA of some surprise guests, too.

For example, the wooly mammoths or the woolly rhino, we have cave hyenas and cave bears.

...