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By Ashley Strickland, CNN

(CNN) — An unusual tooth found in a cave offers a rare glimpse into a surprising procedure prehistoric humans might have performed to fix a cavity 59,000 years ago.

Researchers uncovered the lower molar of an adult Neanderthal in Chagryskaya Cave in what’s now Russia, located in southwestern Siberia’s Altai Mountains, a site where populations of these early humans lived between about 49,000 and 70,000 years ago.

Dubbed Chagyrskaya 64, the tooth stood out among dozens of others found in the cave because its crown featured a deep, irregular hole that extended all the way into the pulp chamber, or the inner cavity containing nerves and blood vessels. The chasm looked like a painful cavity that took up most of the tooth’s chewing surface.

Scientists were further intrigued when they spied scratches on the tooth around the hole, suggesting manipulation using a tool of some sort. Fine-pointed stone tools also unearthed in the cave provided possible clues to what made the marks.

Multiple scans of the Neanderthal tooth, as well as experiments using tools on modern human teeth, suggest that someone had essentially drilled out the cavity. This evidence points to the earliest known instance of dental cavity intervention in human evolutionary history, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.

Such behavior indicates that Neanderthals could identify an infection and craft and select the right tools and techniques to alleviate the pain it caused — as well as endure a painful procedure. Wear patterns on the tooth also show that the individual was able to keep using their tooth after the procedure.

“What amazed me was how intuitively the person who owned this tooth understood exactly where the pain was coming from and realized that its source could be removed,” said lead study author Alisa Zubova, senior researcher at the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography at the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. “We have never encountered anything like this before — neither among Neanderthals nor among modern humans from much later periods.”

The findings add to a growing body of evidence that Neanderthals — our closest extinct human relatives — were cognitively and psychologically more similar to modern humans than previously thought, rather than the simple-minded, brutish cavemen of earlier stereotypes.

“This tells us that the emotional and conscious parts of the Neanderthal mind operated independently, just as they do in modern humans,” Zubova said.

Evidence of medical intervention

Nonhuman primates like chimpanzees have demonstrated the ability to treat themselves or others in their community with medicinal plants — a behavior that experts have said is instinctual.

Neanderthals appear to have done the same, aiding members of their species who experienced injuries or hearing loss by sharing food or protecting them as a form of social care, said study coauthor Ksenia Kolobova, head of the Laboratory of Digital Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Novosibirsk, Russia.

However, researchers have long tried to distinguish whether early humans such as Neanderthals were capable of taking that care a step further by implementing deliberate medical strategies.

When the researchers saw the cavity-afflicted tooth, they wondered whether the potential evidence for the tooth’s manipulation could showcase an example of targeted medical intervention.

Scratches on Neanderthal teeth had been seen before, suggesting they used toothpicks to remove food or even chewed on medicinal plants. But cavities were a rare i

Por el corresponsal jefe de Asuntos Globales de CNN, Matthew Chance

Flanqueada por picos nevados y relucientes, la larga carretera hacia Teherán atraviesa pintorescos valles de álamos de Tabriz y campos con brotes verdes de trigo.

Seguimos el estrecho río Qotur, marrón y crecido por el deshielo primaveral, mientras pasa junto a pastores que cuidan sus rebaños en las laderas.

A lo lejos, un imponente puente ferroviario de vigas de acero pintadas de blanco se extiende sobre el paisaje, aparentemente intacto por los ataques estadounidenses e israelíes que golpearon partes de Irán a comienzos de este año.

Pero en medio de negociaciones de paz estancadas y crecientes tensiones por el cierre continuado del estratégico estrecho de Ormuz, los temores de que la guerra pueda reanudarse impulsan la incertidumbre en el país. Durante el recorrido de CNN por Irán, ciudadanos comunes —a quienes Trump instó en su momento a “recuperar su país”— describieron la vida bajo bombardeos y bloqueos.

“No vayan allí, es demasiado peligroso ahora”, aconsejó una joven iraní que viajaba desde Estados Unidos a Teherán al enterarse de nuestro viaje por el noroeste del país.

“Tengo familia allí, por eso estoy tomando el riesgo”, explicó, pidiendo no ser identificada.

En la carretera, entre kioscos que venden pistachos y té, carteles negros lloran la muerte del ayatolá Ali Jamenei, líder supremo de Irán, muerto en un ataque aéreo en febrero, el primer día de la guerra.

“Su sombra ha pasado sobre nuestras cabezas”, dice un cartel en persa, citando un lamento popular.

Su hijo y sucesor, Mojtaba Jamenei, es ahora el “estandarte” de la nación, declara otro póster, aunque el joven, que según informes resultó herido en el mismo ataque, no ha sido visto ni escuchado en público desde que asumió el poder, reflejo de la incertidumbre en el país.

“Trump podría decidir volver a bombardear hoy”, comentó un hombre iraní.

“Tal vez no mientras esté en China, pero quién sabe. A Trump le gusta estar en el centro de atención”, agregó.

Mientras el presidente de EE.UU. Donald Trump realiza su visita de Estado a China, tanto Estados Unidos como Irán parecen buscar en Beijing una posible salida a su estancamiento. Se espera que Trump pida a China que presione a Irán hacia un compromiso, mientras el embajador iraní en China ha sugerido que el país comunista podría actuar como mediador entre Washington y Teherán.

Estados Unidos y China comparten interés en desbloquear el flujo de petróleo y gas por el golfo Pérsico. Además, podría ser un movimiento diplomático astuto para China mostrar que ayuda a solucionar problemas que afectaron a la economía global, contrastando su comportamiento con el de Washington.

Pero son los iraníes —una fuerza política vibrante incluso bajo un régimen estricto— quienes probablemente decidirán el futuro del país. Durante el largo trayecto a la capital se evidenciaron las diversas fuerzas en juego.

Se vieron multitudes de excursionistas, jóvenes y mayores, cargando a mano garrafas de aceite desde la frontera con Turquía. Un jubilado explicó que este producto esencial cuesta ahora seis veces más en Irán que en Turquía, en medio de una crisis de costo de vida que no muestra señales de ceder.

Aunque posiblemente agravados por el reciente bloqueo naval estadounidense, los problemas de costo de vida sustentaron protestas antigubernamentales a nivel nacional a finales del año pasado, que causaron una feroz represión. Miles murieron en la respuesta del Estado, según han admitido autoridades iraníes.

En un restaurante en ruta a Teherán, en un antiguo caravansar, se si

By Paula Reid, Alayna Treene, Casey Gannon, CNN

(CNN) — The Justice Department is discussing whether to settle President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service in the coming days, according to two sources familiar.

Among the options being discussed internally is whether a settlement would include a provision on the IRS dropping audits of the president and members of his family, as well as audits of the family’s businesses, the people said.

One of the people familiar said that the possibility is one of many options under consideration, and that no firm decisions have been made. It remains unclear if a monetary settlement is being considered. If it is, it could result in the Trump Justice Department making a payment to the president himself — raising unprecedented ethical questions.

“The IRS wrongly allowed a rogue, politically-motivated employee to leak private and confidential information about President Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization to the New York Times, ProPublica and other left-wing news outlets, which was then illegally released to millions of people,” a spokesman for Trump’s legal team told CNN in a statement. “President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable.”

CNN reached out the IRS, which referred to the Justice Department for comment. The Justice Department declined to comment. The New York Times was first to report the potential term being floated in the settlement talks.

Trump sued the US Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department in January for at least $10 billion, accusing the agency of an unauthorized leak of his tax returns during his first administration.

The suit was filed in federal court in Florida. Trump, who filed the suit alongside his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, is suing personally, not in his official capacity as president.

The lawsuit alleged that the government failed to protect Trump and the Trump Organization’s confidential tax information, which was leaked to the press by Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor.

Littlejohn, who worked as a government contractor at Booz Allen Hamilton, illegally obtained and disclosed Trump’s tax returns to publications like the New York Times and ProPublica, the suit alleged. He has since been sentenced to five years in prison.

The outside settlement talks come as the lawsuit has had a skeptical reception in court.

A federal judge last month questioned the constitutionality of Trump’s lawsuit, ordering a hearing to determine whether the president can sue federal agencies that he oversees.

Florida District Judge Kathleen M. Williams said it is unclear whether Trump and the agencies are “sufficiently adverse to each other” and ordered both sides to provide more information on the relationship.

“Although President Trump avers that he is bringing this lawsuit in his personal capacity, he is the sitting president and his named adversaries are entities whose decisions are subject to his direction,” Williams, an Obama appointee, said at the time.

A series of settlements

The Justice Department’s settlement talks come as it has already settled other lawsuits brought by Trump allies.

In April, the Justice Department settled a lawsuit brought by former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, who sued the DOJ and FBI over flawed government surveillance he faced due to his Russian contacts in 2016, Read more