What Teeth Tell us About Survival on Earth
Zoologist Bill Schutt says teeth are power tools for survival. He joins us to talk about his new book “Bite.”
Listen 30:20
close up of the mouth and teeth a crocodile
Zoologist Bill Schutt argues that teeth — more so than bones, brains, and a spinal column — were pivotal to the success of vertebrate animals. Having teeth meant having power tools for survival for everything from vampire bats and sharks to shrews and humans. His latest book, “Bite: An Incisive History of Teeth, from Hagfish to Humans,” takes readers on a journey through the natural history of teeth.
On this podcast extra, Schutt explains why teeth hold the key to understanding animals both in the present, and millions of years in the past; the controversy of fluoride in drinking water; and why George Washington would have been in pain for most of his adult life because of his dentures.
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