Psience Quest

A Possible Sign Of Life Right Next Door To Earth, On Venus

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Quote:Scientists say they've detected a gas in the clouds of Venus that, on Earth, is produced by microbial life.

The researchers have racked their brains trying to understand why this toxic gas, phosphine, is there in such quantities, but they can't think of any geologic or chemical explanation.

The mystery raises the astonishing possibility that Venus, the planet that comes closest to Earth as it whizzes around the sun, might have some kind of life flourishing more than 30 miles up in its yellow, hazy clouds.

This has already started trending on social media. It's so bizarre/incredible to me that a planet thought of as so inhospitable for so many years may potentially support some kind of life we never thought of perhaps.

Well, all they really have is some unexplained quantity of gas. It doesn't automatically point to life. However by a process of reasoning based on how the gas might ordinarily be produced, then the idea of life was put forward. It isn't conclusive, there might be some alternative explanation found.