Scissor-like

The 30-inch stainless steel tongs have scissor-like pincers that you operate with one hand while working a shorter, third appendage with the other hand.

“We gave them fake arms and taught them to hold a scalpel, how to tie sutures, how to hold multiple instruments,” Dr. Burns, the show’s medical adviser, said in a recent interview in his cluttered study, demonstrating the gunslinger reflexes needed to flip a waiting hemostat, a scissor-like tool, off the wrist and seal a broken blood vessel.

Scientists have often attributed their wild success to their unique way of chewing, in which they used a scissor-like motion to grind tough plants between a row of teeth and bare bone.