Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Possible signs of life on Venus”.
Clara SOUSA-SILVA, Finding signs of life on other planets beyond the Earth would be a way of answering the biggest questions that we’ve had as a species. So far., Where do we come from? Are we alone? Of course, these questions are not the exclusive purview of scientists. People. Have been asking them for as long as is any record of them being able to ask these questions.. What is special about this moment and our role in it as scientist is that for the first time we’re actually able, because we have the tools to answer these questions., JANUSZ PETKOWSKI.
So a group of scientists, led by Jane Greaves from the University of Cardiff, were looking for signs for chemical signs on Venus. That shouldn’t belong there. And one of such molecules is phosphine. And they unexpectedly, they actually were able to find a signal that belongs to this molecule.. So then we raced to figure out what could be the reason for phosphine on Venus., And this is where our MIT team comes., When we actually looked at all kinds of processes, chemical and physical, that could potentially produce phosphine in Venusian environments.. This is a atmosphere.. The surface of the planet is completely completely uninhabited.. The atmosphere is the only place in which life actually could in principle, exist..
There is a belt of clouds. And we concluded that there is no known chemical and physical process that could conceivably produce phosphine.. So this adds to the mystery of Venus., And then this opens a rather bold possibility that there might be something living in the clouds of Venus., CLARA SOUSA-SILVA Phosphine is my favorite molecule., And it looks more or less like this: a phosphorous atom on top and three Hydrogens in the base of this pyramid. And phosphine is an extremely difficult molecule to make.. It is only spontaneously made in extreme environments., Such as what you find in the hellish depths of Jupiter and Saturn.. It is otherwise only made either naturally by life on Earth or artificially by humans as a fumigant for example., JANUSZ PETKOWSKI. So the question is why it is actually a staggering discovery. Why it is so important.
Well, there are a couple of angles that you can actually answer that question. One. The first is that phosphine is absolutely unexpected.. It cannot be produced on the rocky planets.. At least we don’t know of any known processes, chemical or physical, that can produce phosphine., Which means either our understanding of the physics and chemistry of the rocky planets is severely incomplete. Or there is some chemistry that is so unbelievably weird that it could even be life..
Clara SOUSA-SILVA, If we have indeed found life outside the Earth, it puts our own existence into perspective., But it also tells us that life would be much more common than we first imagined.. And there is a huge array of possibilities out there in the galaxy of life. With different biochemistries and desire., And of course, if we have found life right next door in a planetary neighbor, that would be so cool .