[Bonaparte]

"Neanderthals appear to have tolerated temperatures as cold as zero degrees Fahrenheit, but during the last ice age, winter temperatures dipped to well below freezing."

Since freezing is 32^o F., I conclude that this writer doesn't know of what she speaks.

[curmudgeonII]

Neanderthals appear to have tolerated temperatures as cold as zero degrees Fahrenheit...

The author may have confused Fahrenheit with Centigrade. Freezing on the Centigrade scale does come in at a convenient zero degrees. However, I do have to wonder at how much science the writer has, being unable to differentiate between these two scales - something any halfway bright high school sophmore ought to be able to do.