News

Paleontology

This dinosaur had a weapon shaped like an Aztec war club on its tail

The flat and spiky tail club of a newly discovered ankylosaur was unique, even for this often weirdly armored group of dinosaurs.

Anthropology

Ancient giant orangutans evolved smaller bodies surprisingly slowly

Fossil teeth from Chinese caves indicate that a single, ancient orangutan species gradually trimmed down over nearly 2 million years.

Chemistry

Here’s the chemistry behind marijuana’s skunky scent

Newly ID’d sulfur compounds in cannabis flowers give the plant its telltale odor. One, prenylthiol, is what also gives “skunked beer” its funky flavor.

Life

Fungi may be crucial to storing carbon in soil as the Earth warms

Fungi help soil-making bacteria churn out carbon compounds that are resilient to heat, keeping those compounds in the ground, a study suggests.