Signs of life potentially found on Venus?

[bladefd]

The presence of phosphine is seen by many astrobiologists as a "biosignature" i.e. an indicator of the possible presence of life. The detection was made by the Atacama (ALMA) array located in Chile and the James Clerk Maxwell telescope located in Hawaii. The research team includes members from the University of Manchester, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Cardiff University. A paper will appear in the 14 September issue of Nature Astronomy.

From what we're told the researchers have concluded that abiotic mechanisms (i.e. ones that do not involve life) that might produce phosphine cannot account for the large amount that they have detected. The phosphine has been detected in the region within the atmosphere of Venus that is considered by some to be potentially habitable. As to what spin the researchers put on this, we'll have to wait for reporters who have the press release or are allowed to participate in the Zoom press conference thing tomorrow at 15:00 GMT to let us know.
http://astrobiology.com/2020/09/phosphine-detected-in-the-atmosphere-of-venus---an-indicator-of-possible-life.html


It has to go through rigorous peer-review process next after paper is published and doesn't mean much yet, but it is interesting nonetheless. If found to be true, it doesn't necessarily mean that they found life, but a very good possibility that there may be life. It would allow NASA or another space agency to send a probe in that specific area of Venus to search for living things, potentially microscopic organisms, and perhaps bring them back to Earth for analysis.

[CelticBaller]

2020 wild

[Meticode]

It's not really that wild to me. The only thing I can think of that they would learn from it would be more potential conditions life can exist. What we need to find is some type of fossilized remains of life on Mars. Something not microscopic.

[Long Duck Dong]

Huge if true. We've known for a while that there was a small amount of water vapor and habitable (by our standards) temperatures in the atmosphere of Venus.

2020 wild is right

[starface]

http://astrobiology.com/2020/09/phosphine-detected-in-the-atmosphere-of-venus---an-indicator-of-possible-life.html


It has to go through rigorous peer-review process next after paper is published and doesn't mean much yet, but it is interesting nonetheless. If found to be true, it doesn't necessarily mean that they found life, but a very good possibility that there may be life. It would allow NASA or another space agency to send a probe in that specific area of Venus to search for living things, potentially microscopic organisms, and perhaps bring them back to Earth for analysis.

Thats what always makes it tough to know which “possible discoveries” are legit and which are just money grabs.

Because both definitely happen.

[GrayGoat]

Life finds a way

[Kblaze8855]

If life is on Venus we won’t be able to access it for a very long time if ever because Venus is as close as the real world gets to hell.

I wonder what we do if we find someone living in a place we can get to. No bacteria I mean. I’m talking like....an alien creature even something on a low level like an alien ocean sea cucumber.

No nation would be foolish enough to bring one back would it? Introduce some other planets living material here with who knows what kinda disease?

Let’s say sea creatures are found on one of these moons we suspect could have them. What’s the best case? A blue planet type special conspiracy theorists would always say was cgi?

[highwhey]

If life is on Venus we won’t be able to access it for a very long time if ever because Venus is as close as the real world gets to hell.

I wonder what we do if we find someone living in a place we can get to. No bacteria I mean. I’m talking like....an alien creature even something on a low level like an alien ocean sea cucumber.

No nation would be foolish enough to bring one back would it? Introduce some other planets living material here with who knows what kinda disease?

Let’s say sea creatures are found on one of these moons we suspect could have them. What’s the best case? A blue planet type special conspiracy theorists would always say was cgi?
we would probably prioritize research and funding space exploration programs, but yeah, no real way of accessing it at the moment.

[SATAN]

I wonder what we do if we find someone living in a place we can get to. No bacteria I mean. I’m talking like....an alien creature even something on a low level like an alien ocean sea cucumber.


Knowing out species, start breeding them as pets or eat them as a delicacy.

[Axe]

Ever wonder who likes to live in a planet in which it takes more days to rotate on its axis than revolve over the sun?

[n00bie]

If life is on Venus we won’t be able to access it for a very long time if ever because Venus is as close as the real world gets to hell.

I wonder what we do if we find someone living in a place we can get to. No bacteria I mean. I’m talking like....an alien creature even something on a low level like an alien ocean sea cucumber.

No nation would be foolish enough to bring one back would it? Introduce some other planets living material here with who knows what kinda disease?

Let’s say sea creatures are found on one of these moons we suspect could have them. What’s the best case? A blue planet type special conspiracy theorists would always say was cgi?

You can guarantee we'll bring the alien species to earth.

[CelticBaller]

It sounds about time we put the Space Force to work and declare war on them sons of bitches

https://static.politico.com/dims4/default/f2f3f18/2147483647/resize/1920x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2Fbf%2F1b%2 Fa48b29a945dc861efcd73fc72abf%2F200124-space-trump-gty-773.jpg

[highwhey]

It sounds about time we put the Space Force to work and declare war on them sons of bitches

https://static.politico.com/dims4/default/f2f3f18/2147483647/resize/1920x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2Fbf%2F1b%2 Fa48b29a945dc861efcd73fc72abf%2F200124-space-trump-gty-773.jpg

patrickchewing?

[Phoenix]

If life is on Venus we won’t be able to access it for a very long time if ever because Venus is as close as the real world gets to hell.

I wonder what we do if we find someone living in a place we can get to. No bacteria I mean. I’m talking like....an alien creature even something on a low level like an alien ocean sea cucumber.

No nation would be foolish enough to bring one back would it? Introduce some other planets living material here with who knows what kinda disease?

Let’s say sea creatures are found on one of these moons we suspect could have them. What’s the best case? A blue planet type special conspiracy theorists would always say was cgi?

You're not even, as far as I know, supposed to bring plants and fruits across country borders due to the potential adverse ecological effects. Bringing back a low life alien creature has way too many unknowns. Then again I've been reminded in 2020 of how stupid mankind is, so who knows if the historical significance of such a discovery outweighs sound judgment.

[GimmeThat]

and all we know is that life isn't the most plentiful (currently available) resource on Venus. for all intents and purposes, fossil fuels can be considered as life as well

[starface]

If life is on Venus we won’t be able to access it for a very long time if ever because Venus is as close as the real world gets to hell.

I wonder what we do if we find someone living in a place we can get to. No bacteria I mean. I’m talking like....an alien creature even something on a low level like an alien ocean sea cucumber.

No nation would be foolish enough to bring one back would it? Introduce some other planets living material here with who knows what kinda disease?

Let’s say sea creatures are found on one of these moons we suspect could have them. What’s the best case? A blue planet type special conspiracy theorists would always say was cgi?


I'm obviously a layperson when it comes to chemical biology, but I don't think disease would be a problem. Bacteria and viruses evolved alongside the rest of life on Earth, and have specific adaptions enabling them to 'prey' on organisms with Earth-based biochemistry. Any kind of life we'd find on another planet would be so incredibly distinct from us genetically that it (presumably) should be unable to do us any harm as a pathogen. It wouldn't have any code or mechanism for multiplying with our cells. That kind of thing is evolved over a long period of time.

In the broader picture, bear in mind life as we know it isn't just about the elements present on Earth, but the specific balance of conditions every step of the way. In some periods the atmosphere had more oxygen, some it had less. Some points had more methane, at some points the ocean was more acidic, then less, then more... and early protein formation would have been, I presume, very dependent on the exact prescriptions of those evolving conditions. Evolution as described by evolutionary theory is a reaction, not an initiative. According to evolution, life is not inevitable. It is specifically a product of environment. So while other celestial bodies may possess basic conditions similar to Earth past or present, they don't possess an identical timeline of shifting conditions down to the .000001th changes in atmospheric pressure, ocean temperature, magnetic field, etc. There's no real reason to assume life exists elsewhere. The idea that "the universe is so big, it has to!" may seem intuitive, but so would the idea that given every snowflake to have fallen on Earth, there must be at least one incident of an identical pair. But as a physicist will tell you: (https://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/alike/alike.htm) "it is indeed extremely unlikely that two complex snowflakes will look exactly alike. It's so extremely unlikely, in fact, that even if you looked at every one ever made you would not find any exact duplicates."

It's still far from certain that even the most basic emergence of life isn't a unique transpiration of Earth's conditions.

[starface]

^ I'm also not saying it's unlikely per se that 'life' exists elsewhere. But I think when we imagine it, we tend to imagine it with qualities more familiar to our experience as Earthlings than would plausibly be the case. I think it's more likely we find processes that would require us to expand the definition of 'life', than it is we find organisms that fit our current perceptions.

But again,


https://i0.wp.com/media.giphy.com/media/MPSVGlbMQLyyQ/giphy.gif?resize=225%2C169&ssl=1

[warriorfan]

Thats what always makes it tough to know which “possible discoveries” are legit and which are just money grabs.

Because both definitely happen.

This.

Science is about money. When there’s money involved there will be agendas and bias.

Science is not an altruistic search for truth.

[SATAN]

This.

Science is about money. When there’s money involved there will be agendas and bias.

Science is not an altruistic search for truth.

Dumbest thing ever said online.

[GimmeThat]

This.

Science is about money. When there’s money involved there will be agendas and bias.

Science is not an altruistic search for truth.

Science is about the search for truth, it's just people were somehow allowed to sacrifice their livelihood in search for truth, they then asked for shelter.

if you set the requirements of "well, you must water the garden, and feed the chicken, milk the cow a few times per week, then you can research" many people would turn up saying, I have absolutely no interest in science then.


'sure, try something new, it's not going to be the center of your universe the next morning, there's a word call implications for turning what's new to knew'

[Street Hunger]

I want to hear that alien life has been discovered on other planets and there is evidence that they are like playing basketball or dancing or doing something other than like growing in the ground like plants

[Gohan]

Science and reason telling me that I am wrong. Don’t believe in what you can see, I’ve seen the unseen I know something is greater is waiting on me