NPR Topics: Science•Yesterday
What teeth enamel tells us about ancient human diets
If you have ever watched a kid who's missing their front teeth try to eat an apple, you know how important teeth are from a biological standpoint. Well, a new study looks at the outermost layer of teeth, and as NPR's Nate Rott reports, what it found could apply far beyond the kitchen table. So they looked at samples of early humans dating back nearly 18 million years ago from three different species of hominins, one that anthropologists know ate tough, sinewy meat at that time, one that didn't, and one that ate a mixture.
