LiveScience.com - An analysis of the gut contents from an exceptionally well-preserved juvenile dinosaur fossil suggests that the hadrosaur’s last meal included plenty of well-chewed leaves digested into tiny bits.

The fossil, Brachylophosaurus canadensis aka “Leonardo,” is the second well-substantiated case in which the gut contents of a plant-eating dinosaur have been revealed, said Justin S. Tweet, who was a graduate student at the University of Colorado at Boulder when he studied the fossil with colleagues there including paleontologist Karen Chin. …

Reuters - The sun’s winds are less blustery than they used to be, NASA said on Tuesday, revealing data from a solar probe that promises new insights about Earth’s local star but poses few if any consequences for humans — unless you’re an astronaut.

Reuters - A Canadian researcher has discovered what is believed to be North America’s smallest dinosaur, a 70-million-year-old chicken-sized beast that was also unusual for its diet of insects.

LiveScience.com - An ancient fish sported something like fingers that were the precursors to our own digits, according to an analysis of a new fossil skeleton.

“It’s really the last piece of evidence to say fingers are not new. They were really present in fish,” said lead researcher Catherine Boisvert, an evolutionary biologist at Uppsala University in Sweden.

The fossilized skeleton belonged to Panderichthys, a predatory fish that spanned up to 4 feet (130 cm) and likely dwelled in shallow waters where it inched along the muddy bottom about 385 million years ago. …

SPACE.com - Astronomy is the oldest of the sciences, and quite possibly
the oldest use of astronomy is navigating by the stars. This craft dates from
prehistoric times among humans, and is even practiced by certain animals.

AP - Researchers are hoping a large cache of ancient crocodile bones in western North Dakota will yield the state’s first complete croc skeleton.

AFP - Australian scientists were hopeful Tuesday that two tonnes of bones found in the country’s northeast are the remains of a new species of dinosaur.

Reuters - Thanks to a big stroke of luck 200
million years ago, dinosaurs beat out a fearsome group of
creatures competing for the right to rule the Earth, scientists
said on Thursday.

LiveScience.com - Dinosaurs are often seen as unlucky, having been wiped out by an asteroid. But they dominated Earth for more than 160 million years, evolving into a wild array of body types and sizes suited for many different ecological niches.

Scientists previously thought that it was this evolutionary diversity that enabled the dinosaurs’ reign, allowing them to out-compete similar groups of reptiles, but a new study, detailed in the Sept. 11 issue of the journal Science, shows that it was really just a matter of luck. …

AFP - A fresh storm has broken out over an ancient fossil presented by its defenders as a forebear of humanity and dismissed by its critics as the remains of a vulgar chimp.