Check out the highest, off-the-wall, stoner friendly science updates of 2015. We've figured out a lot this year, and the cannabis plant is a lot less mysterious now, see it all for yourself.
What’s The Difference Between Wax And Shatter?
What is the difference between wax and shatter? Is one or the other more potent? Is either better? While the potency of wax and shatter is similar (it depends on the starting material), the physical difference between the two has remained a mystery… until now.
Cannabis doesn’t hold the record for world’s smelliest plant, but it sure can seem like it sometimes. Terpenes alone can’t explain the smell; cannabis actually has a specific part of its anatomy dedicated to making it smelly.
Warning: Breaking Up Weed Can Make You Fail A Drug Test
A recently published study from the University of Freiburg in Germany has found that rolling a joint is enough to fail a drug test. Even indirect contact with cannabis can give you a false positive, with big implications for legal cases that revolve around a drug test as evidence.
Do You Know The Real Boiling Point Of THC?
Wikipedia can be a great source of information, but don’t always trust it. When it comes to numerical values, like the boiling point of a compound, normally Wikipedia gets close enough because something so simple is easy to agree on, and all the primary sources will provide roughly the same value. But what if we’re dealing with a chemical that has been illegal under federal law since 1937?
High Times Unlocks How to Make the Best Edibles
Check out this series that details different methods of infusing cannabis into oil for cooking. Read a results breakdown like non other in the Ultimate Cannabutter Experiment.
Are Indica And Sativa Really Different?
Researchers from Canada recently published a genetic analysis of a large batch of different hemp and marijuana strains and discovered a large genetic difference between hemp and marijuana, with a small, but significant, rift between indica and sativa.
Do you have a favorite terpene? Without ever thinking of it, you probably do. Read about which of these flavor compounds make good dabs great, and give great dabs Cannabis Cups.
Scientists Measure THC In the Atmosphere
Scientists measured drugs in the air at air quality monitoring facilities all over Italy in an attempt to gain knowledge on consumption of nicotine, cocaine, methamphetamine, ketamine, heroin and cannabis.
The Love Hormone Explains Why Weed Makes Us Friendlier
Researchers at the University of California Irvine have discovered how the so-called “love hormone” oxytocin boosts social interactions by making your brain release anandamide, the “bliss molecule.” Anandamide stimulates cannabinoid receptors like cannabis does, giving credence to the idea that the world would be a better, friendlier place if everyone smoked weed.
Why Do Sativas Make Us Feel The Way They Do?
Sativa strains like Durban Poison, Nigerian or Hawaiian Dutch have an undeniably uplifting effect on those who smoke them. Many folks have given terpenes the credit for sativas' effects, but the key is in the cannabinoids. THCV, present in relatively high amounts in these strains, blocks memory impairment, helping you get shit done when you need to the most.
Study Shows Alcohol Increases Blood Content of THC
Combining alcohol and cannabis has people giggling from college parties to Cannabis Cups, but is there some thing more to it? Scientists show alcohol increases the blood content of THC and people are higher with the combination than with THC alone.
Some mainstream news authorities will have you believe that the weed we smoke these days has been genetically modified to produce insane amounts of THC. They cite old studies that use increases in THC potency as proof cannabis has been genetically modified, but without any genetic evidence. So where is this GMO weed and who is smoking it all? Because it surely isn’t any of us…
Why Do Coffee And Weed Go So Well Together?
A study on monkeys found that caffeine potentiates the threshold dose of THC and causes a reinforcing effect mediated by endocannabinoids. In other words, drinking coffee while high makes you higher and potentially more pleasurable.
Photo Credit: Stephanie Curtis