Friday Headlines, May 30, 2013
THE LATEST IN THE GEOSCIENCES
NEW DINOSAUR IS A PRIMITIVE BIRD
A new dinosaur found in China from rocks from the early part of the Late Jurassic (~160 million years ago) has been shown to be, perhaps, the first true bird. It turns out that this new species, Auronis xui, is about 10 million years older than the most commonly cited ‘first bird’ Archaeopteryx.
Auronis did not appear to be capable of powered flight (taking off from the ground and flying somewhere) but could potentially glide using the wings on its arms and additional ‘wings’ made by feathers on its legs.
One of the striking features of Auronis is just how similar it is to theropod dinosaurs (which included Tyrannosaurus), strengthening the argument that birds evolved from these meat-eating dinosaurs.
MOON MAY HARBOUR ALIEN MINERALS, STUDY SAYS
The craters of the Moon contain many curious minerals (specifically olivine and spinel) that scientists have long thought were brought up from the Moon’s own interior when the crater-forming impact occurred. A new study suggests that these unusual minerals are the remnants of the asteroids that struck the Moon instead.
This is exciting, because that means it’s possible to learn more about the composition of asteroids, which often reflect what the original composition of the solar system was. The down side is that this means that we don’t know nearly as much as we thought about the composition of the Moon itself.
Penny Higgins - Storyteller • Artist • Scientist 
Funny you should mention the similarities between theropods and birds. The web comic XKCD (which you should read if you like science, math, computers, the Internet, and the people who love them) just ran a cartoon about that very subject:
http://www.xkcd.com/1211/
Also, isn’t olivine a large component of the Earth’s crust?
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Yes, I love XKCD. That particular comic went viral among the paleontology community.
Olivine is actually rare on the Earth’s crust. It’s not stable at surface temperatures and pressures. It does, however, compose much of the Earth’s mantle. So the bulk of the Earth is olivine and similar minerals.
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