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Signs of two gases in clouds of Venus could indicate life, scientists say

theguardian.com

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Re: Signs of two gases in clouds of Venus could indicate life, scientists say

#11

Post by yieldcrv »

bbor wrote: post #9

Here’s an annoying question: how would one play the discovery of Venusian life into personal gain? I’m thinking “startup/invest in space” as a starting point, but surely there’s a more fun/rediculous way. Let’s assume that these signals are indeed based in life, and that that life is mostly boring to laymen — some type of bacteria or lava tube denizen with minimal complexity, say

Its the right question to ask: speculation breeds innovation and nothing else has motivated humans to bother

the merely curious get nowhere, the financially incentivized risk takers with asymmetric upside have a selective evolution of failures and successes towards a couple that find an edge

Re: Signs of two gases in clouds of Venus could indicate life, scientists say

#12

Post by PaulHoule »

bbor wrote: post #9

Here’s an annoying question: how would one play the discovery of Venusian life into personal gain? I’m thinking “startup/invest in space” as a starting point, but surely there’s a more fun/rediculous way. Let’s assume that these signals are indeed based in life, and that that life is mostly boring to laymen — some type of bacteria or lava tube denizen with minimal complexity, say

B a bullshitter like https://astronomy.fas.harvard.edu/people/avi-loeb

Re: Signs of two gases in clouds of Venus could indicate life, scientists say

#13

Post by jvanderbot »

idlewords wrote: post #8

We had a false alarm about Venusian phosphine (as the article mentions) a few years back. It would be very exciting to get these tentative detections confirmed. There is a lot of microbial life on Earth living in clouds, almost all of it uncharacterized. Microbes have been found living high up into the stratosphere. At the very least, a search for life in the clouds of Venus would prompt us to learn more about this f…

Does microbial life "live" there, or is it deposited there by other means?

Re: Signs of two gases in clouds of Venus could indicate life, scientists say

#14

Post by Animats »

blue_dragon wrote: post #7

Makes me think the Soviets may have been correct in their obsession over Venus, if only by sheer luck.

Venus needs more attention. Mars is boring. Luna is boring. Venus might have some action.

And what about Europa?

Re: Signs of two gases in clouds of Venus could indicate life, scientists say

#15

Post by kjkjadksj »

jvanderbot wrote: post #13
idlewords wrote: post #8

We had a false alarm about Venusian phosphine (as the article mentions) a few years back. It would be very exciting to get these tentative detections confirmed. There is a lot of microbial life on Earth living in clouds, almost all of it uncharacterized. Microbes have been found living high up into the stratosphere. At the very least, a search for life in the clouds of Venus would prompt us to learn more about this f…

Does microbial life "live" there, or is it deposited there by other means?

Both. Some stuff its thought to be an evolved dispersal strategy.

Re: Signs of two gases in clouds of Venus could indicate life, scientists say

#16

Post by shejdb688 »

bbor wrote: post #9

Here’s an annoying question: how would one play the discovery of Venusian life into personal gain? I’m thinking “startup/invest in space” as a starting point, but surely there’s a more fun/rediculous way. Let’s assume that these signals are indeed based in life, and that that life is mostly boring to laymen — some type of bacteria or lava tube denizen with minimal complexity, say

That's what these researchers are doing. There's vanishingly little possibility of life on Venus; they're fishing for research funds in leu of proposing kinetic mechanisms for the phosphine.

Re: Signs of two gases in clouds of Venus could indicate life, scientists say

#17

Post by bloopernova »

Animats wrote: post #14
blue_dragon wrote: post #7

Makes me think the Soviets may have been correct in their obsession over Venus, if only by sheer luck.

Venus needs more attention. Mars is boring. Luna is boring. Venus might have some action. And what about Europa?

Europa is orbiting Jupiter.

Jupiter puts out a lot of radiation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40978670

For sure, Venus needs exploration. I'd like to see an orbiting station with a 10 year mission to explore the Venusian atmosphere via drones or other methods.

Re: Signs of two gases in clouds of Venus could indicate life, scientists say

#18

Post by marcusverus »

bloopernova wrote: post #17
Animats wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Venus needs more attention. Mars is boring. Luna is boring. Venus might have some action. And what about Europa?

Europa is orbiting Jupiter. Jupiter puts out a lot of radiation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40978670 For sure, Venus needs exploration. I'd like to see an orbiting station with a 10 year mission to explore the Venusian atmosphere via drones or other methods.

Any Europan life would be in its oceans, which are more than adequately shielded from radiation by a miles-thick layer of ice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(moon)#Subsurface_ocean

Re: Signs of two gases in clouds of Venus could indicate life, scientists say

#19

Post by ccakes »

Animats wrote: post #14
blue_dragon wrote: post #7

Makes me think the Soviets may have been correct in their obsession over Venus, if only by sheer luck.

Venus needs more attention. Mars is boring. Luna is boring. Venus might have some action. And what about Europa?

Venus definitely needs more attention but regarding outer solar system, my money is on Enceladus being the most interesting one

Re: Signs of two gases in clouds of Venus could indicate life, scientists say

#20

Post by idlewords »

jvanderbot wrote: post #13
idlewords wrote: post #8

We had a false alarm about Venusian phosphine (as the article mentions) a few years back. It would be very exciting to get these tentative detections confirmed. There is a lot of microbial life on Earth living in clouds, almost all of it uncharacterized. Microbes have been found living high up into the stratosphere. At the very least, a search for life in the clouds of Venus would prompt us to learn more about this f…

Does microbial life "live" there, or is it deposited there by other means?

I believe the question of whether there's life that's entirely confined to clouds is open.
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