Potential signs of life discovered in Venus' toxic clouds

Two teams of scientists have found evidence of the presence of phosphine and ammonia in the clouds on the planet Venus. This might suggest that some forms of life could exist there. The research findings were presented at the University of Hull.

According to a British newspaper, on Wednesday, the research team from Imperial College London presented evidence of phosphine, a toxic gas whose occurrence on Venus has been the subject of scientific discussions. Phosphine is produced in oxygen-poor environments such as badger intestines or penguin droppings. Volcanic eruptions are another source of this gas.

Simultaneously, another group of scientists from Cardiff University presented preliminary findings of their research, indicating ammonia's presence on Venus. Ammonia is a product of biological and industrial processes on Earth. Scientists are having difficulty explaining the presence of this gas on Venus using known atmospheric or geological phenomena.

Both gases are classified as biomarkers, which means they could indicate the presence of life. However, this is not conclusive evidence of extraterrestrial life. Nonetheless, these discoveries increased the likelihood of life on Venus in the past, and some elements may have survived in the planet's atmosphere.

Conditions on Venus are extreme - the pressure there is 90 times greater than on Earth's surface, and the temperature can reach 450 degrees Celsius. Sulfuric acid clouds hover low over the planet's surface. However, about 50 kilometres above the surface, the conditions are much more similar to those on Earth and could potentially allow for the survival of very resilient microbes.

— It could be that if Venus went through a warm, wet phase in the past, then as runaway global warming took effect, [life] would have evolved to survive in the only niche left to it — the clouds — said Dr. Dave Clements during the meeting.

During another lecture, Prof. Jane Greaves, an astronomer from Cardiff University, presented preliminary observations from the Green Bank Telescope, which suggest the existence of ammonia clouds on Venus.

Despite these discoveries, scientists remain cautious about the likelihood of life on the second planet from the Sun. Dr. Robert Massey from the Royal Astronomical Society stated that although these discoveries are exciting, they are preliminary results.

— These are very exciting findings but it must be stressed that the results are only preliminary and more work is needed to learn more about the presence of these two potential biomarkers in Venus’s clouds. Nevertheless, it is fascinating to think that these detections could point to either possible signs of life or some unknown chemical processes. It will be interesting to see what further investigations unearth over the coming months and years — he added.