# s-ethnomed: ancient flexible eat; self-medication among Neanderthals with aspirin and penicillin like

<< Dental plaque preserved in fossilized teeth confirms that Neandertals were flexible eaters and may have self-medicated with an ancient equivalent of aspirin >>

<< Genetic material from poplar trees, which contain the pain-killing aspirin ingredient salicylic acid, and a plant mold that makes the antibiotic penicillin hint that he may have used natural medication to ease his aliments >>

Helen Thompson. Ancient dental plaque tells tales of Neandertal diet and disease. March 8, 2017

https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/science-ticker/ancient-dental-plaque-tells-tales-neandertal-diet-and-disease

Laura S. Weyrich, Sebastian Duchene, et al. Neanderthal behaviour, diet, and disease inferred from ancient DNA in dental calculus. Nature (2017) doi:10.1038/nature21674.  March 08, 2017

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature21674.html