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 Yachtold, visit yawcult.co.

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

This is Scientific American 60-second Science. I'm Suzanne Bard.

Around 100,000 years ago, in what is now Italy, our Neanderthal cousins waded out into the shallow coastal waters of the Mediterranean Sea in search of clams.

They grabbed the mollusks from the sea floor and perhaps even dived for them in deeper

water. And they also simply collected clams from the beach. But the creatures weren't just food.

In a recent study, University of Colorado Boulder archaeologist Paola Vila and her team

report that Neanderthals modified the clams hard shells into tools for cutting and scraping.

The clam-derived implements were found inside the Grota de Mosherini, a coastal cave that was first rediscovered around 85 years ago.

By examining wear and tear on the shells, the researchers determined that about 75% of the

tool source material had been found dead on the beach. These shells had been worn down from being

battered by waves and sand, but the remaining shells were smooth and shiny, indicating that the clams

were still alive on the seafloor when they were gathered.

These shells were also thicker and therefore might have made more durable tools. So even though

gathering clams underwater took more work than picking them up on the beach, the effort may have been

worth it. Also found in the Grotoday Mosherini were pumice stones from volcanic eruptions that had occurred

to the south of the site. Those stones may have been used by Neanderthals as abrasive tools.

The study is in the journal PLOS 1. Neanderthals were making these tools more than 50,000 years

before modern humans first arrived in Western Europe, but Neanderthal

...