Blog Heap o'Urantiana Links 14 June 2009

[fOR] the first time the transmission spectrum of the Earth has been measured.... The spectrum not only contained signs of life but these signs were unmistakably strong. It also contained unexpected molecular bands and the signature of the earth ionosphere.... "Now we know what the transmission spectrum of a inhabited planet looks like, we have a much better idea of how to find and recognize Earth like planets outside our solar system where life may be thriving...."

Astronomers have at last uncovered newborn stars at the frenzied center of our Milky Way galaxy... have known that stars can form in this chaotic place, but they're baffled as to how this occurs…

two men who fooled the City Clerk's Office into letting them tie the knot…. The gullible clerk didn't seem to notice that both Nelson, 18, and Stenson, 21, have male first names…. By a fluke, Nelson's ID card has an "F" for female on it…. As they walked out of the building hand in hand, Jason said to his new spouse, "I think we just made history…." When they told another male couple about duping the city, that pair made a bee-line for the clerk's office and were also wed….

…a fundamental new discovery about how birds breathe and have a lung capacity that allows for flight — and the finding means it's unlikely that birds descended from any known theropod dinosaurs…. may finally force many paleontologists to reconsider their long-held belief that modern birds are the direct descendants of ancient, meat-eating dinosaurs….

"I know this is going to sound weird, but in a way, it was a blessing. With all the problems my father had, I'm in a better place in life now than if he had raised me."