Life on Venus (?)

[dickie davies]

 

[AlgarveBlu]

I am not an expert in Alien life, but will there be daddy microbes and mummy microbes that lead to baby microbes ?

I've already got my Microbe Lives Matter T-shirt on - see you all at the march

 

[lancs blue]

I like the "phosphine is associated with life" bit, unless you're human in which case it's fucking toxic.

 

[jj21]

With Mars I thought it was more the evidence that water had been present in significant quantities in the past and where there's water there is usually microbial life at least.

Looking forward to the announcement, hopefully not a damp squib as some of these pre-hyped things have been in the past.

I think it was unexplained seasonal releases of methane on Mars that might indicate something alive under the surface. Link here:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/19/methane-mars-reignited-quest-life-on-other-planets

But possibly debunked as bubbles in permafrost here:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/apr/01/scientists-uncover-potential-source-methane-mars

 

[casserole of nonsense]

An induction problem. The observation that "phosphine is associated with life" does not mean a scientific law exists that all phosphine is produced by life.

"All swans were white" was held as a truth in Europe until black swans were observed in Australia.

I wonder if research funding is due for renewal for the groups at MIT and Cardiff?

 

[lancs blue]

I wonder if research funding is due for renewal for the groups at MIT and Cardiff?

That level of cynicism belongs on the covid threads. ;-)

 

[RabidCity]

First off I saw this




So dig some digging and this appears to be the big news:




More explanation here:

Was life discovered in the clouds of Venus in 2020?

Brian Roemmele's answer: “Was life discovered in the clouds of Venus in 2020?” Yes, indeed as of September 13th, 2020 there was compelling and rather robust evidence suggested by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cardiff University and elsewhere, that have observed what ma...

www.quora.com

This announcement is not diverse

 

[Deleted member 77198]

So maybe life. Maybe not.

Top scorer in English football history and he’s found life on Venus!

 

[Marvin]

My research is in extreme water structure and life in extreme environments so I am really interested in this. it is a very unexpected finding. Carl Sagan considered the possibility of life in the he clouds of Venus because the Pressure and Temperature is habitable but what about the extreme acidity? There are acidophiles on Earth but nothing comparable to the extreme acidity known in the atmosphere of Venus. Life is complex chemistry that replicates, and hitherto it was thought to be carbon based, involving the self assembly of bio-molecules (carbon) in a water solvent. There is a small amount of water in the atmosphere of Venus and sulphuric acid is hygroscopic however as far as I know the acidity that we're taking about would destroy organics.

I have downloaded the paper, and I am starting to read it and I am expecting much discussion in the weeks to come.

It's not the first time that life has been 'discovered'. We have the Alan HIlls 84001 microfossil and the Mars Viking organics experiment (1976) where the creator of the experiment believed that the results proved that there were microorganisms present in the Martian soil. Most think the result was at best inconclusive.

The paper doesn't claim that the Phosphine was formed by life but that there is no known abiotic source that can create it in such quantities. However Venus is an extreme environment that is not well characterised. I think that in 2023 there is a mission to Venus, and it's possible that samples and studies on the Venus atmosphere could be taken in the meantime there is going to be much discussion and interest.

The scientists such as Sara Seager are very well known. Best known for exoplanets.

 

[Marvin]

I like the "phosphine is associated with life" bit, unless you're human in which case it's fucking toxic.

Oxygen is toxic to many forms of life