[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Centauri Dreams notes that the search for exoplanets with life may turn up not clear, but ambiguous, evidence.


• D-Brief notes the invention of a new, reversible invisible ink.
  
• Bruce Dorminey reports on how metal-rich Sun-like star HD 173701 gives us insight into the cycles of the Sun.


• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper examining how stellar activity can erode closely-orbiting rocky exoplanets.


• Hornet Stories reports on some problematic LGBTQ characters of colour in horror films.


• Language Log notes how the Chinese phrase "dǎ call 打call", used in propaganda, has gone viral.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the astonishing sympathy of John Kelly for the Confederacy.


• The LRB Blog notes how technology and bureaucracy make borders ever more permeable.


• Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution reflects on the wonderful Persian Letters of Montesquieu.


• The NYR Daily notes that, whatever the Manafort-Gates scandal is, it is not Trump's easy equivalent of Watergate.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes how astronomers were able to determine A/2017 U1 did not come from this solar system.