MIT Scientists Say Life May Have Been Detected on Venus After All

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MIT Scientists Say Life May Have Been Detected on Venus After All - Futurism

Researchers made a huge splash last year when they announced the discovery of significant sources of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus. The colorless and odorless gas, they claimed at the time, could be a possible sign of life, as it’s often the result of organic matter breaking down here on Earth.

The hypothesis remains a bit of a stretch: that clouds in the planet’s thick, carbon dioxide-filled atmosphere could harbor lifeforms that also happen to be resistant to the incredibly caustic droplets of sulfuric acid surrounding them.

And indeed, other scientists have also thrown cold water on the hypothesis, calling out the possibility of a processing error that throws the data itself into question.

But now, a new study is giving new life to the tantalizing theory. Sulfuric acid, MIT scientists say, could be neutralized by the presence of ammonia, which astronomers also suspect to be present in the planet’s atmosphere thanks to the Venera 8 and Pioneer Venus probe missions in the 1970s.
 
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