Link About It: This Week’s Picks

The smell of rain, Tesla's 'Insane Mode,' cannabis beer and more in our weekly look at the web

1. Beer for Cannabis Connoisseurs A new beer by Colorado-based brewery Oskar Blues keeps cannabis-inclined drinkers in mind. The new brew—dubbed “Pinner” (referring to the term used for small joints)—features a heavy, hoppy aroma that likens itself to the scent of marijuana. Alcohol content is also kept on the lower side, allowing drinkers to easily knock back more than a couple. The Oskar Blues Pinner …

The Smell of Rain Explained

Two MIT scientists have finally figured out the smell of rain (aka petrichor). As a raindrop falls, it traps tiny air bubbles beneath it, and if the ground conditions are right and the droplet hits the earth at a particular velocity, those air bubbles will push up through the raindrop and burst into the air. The result: that very unique aroma.

Antibiotics Pulled from Dirt

Researchers have discovered an effective new antibiotic from an unlikely source: a pile of dirt. The new drug, teixobactin, has so far been tested on mice and was found to cure many severe infections without side effects, and it did so in a way that would not allow bacteria to become immune to it. Teixobactin has yet to be tested on humans, but if it …