SKIRMISHER

This man is dealing with a 350-million-year-old fossil of a huge 20-foot fungus known as Prototaxites.

Prototaxites has generated controversy for more than a century. Originally classified as a conifer like a pine tree, scientists later argued that it was instead a lichen, various types of algae or a fungus .

“No matter what argument you put forth, people say, well, that’s crazy. That doesn’t make any sense,” Boyce said. “A 20-foot-tall fungus doesn’t make any sense. Neither does a 20-foot-tall algae make any sense, but here’s the fossil.”

Stumble it!