BREAKING: Astronomers have found a potential sign of life high in the atmosphere of neighbouring Venus: hints there may be bizarre microbes living in the sulphuric acid-laden clouds of the hothouse planet. 9News
Phosphine is found in "ooze at the bottom of ponds, the guts of some creatures like badgers and perhaps most unpleasantly associated with piles of penguin guano," Clements said.Study co-author Sara Seager, an MIT planetary scientist, said researchers "exhaustively went through every possibility and ruled all of them out: volcanoes, lightning strikes, small meteorites falling into the atmosphere. ...
The phosphine could be coming from some kind of microbes, probably single-cell ones, inside those sulphuric acid droplets, living their entire lives in the 16-kilometre-deep clouds, Seager and Clements said. When the droplets fall, the potential life probably dries out and could then get picked up in another drop and reanimate, they said.
Filiberto said the levels of phosphine found might be explained away by volcanoes. He said recent studies that were not taken into account in this latest research suggest that Venus may have far more active volcanoes than originally thought. But Clements said that explanation would make sense only if Venus were at least 200 times as volcanically active as Earth.
"I'm excited, but I'm also cautious," Grinspoon said. "We found an encouraging sign that demands we follow up."
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
'It could be tomorrow': SA Premier hints at opening border with NSW and ACTSteven Marshall says a decision on reopening the border with New South Wales and the ACT could come as soon as tomorrow, as SA Police sound out other emergency services to relieve police officers working in COVID-19 monitoring.
Read more »
Plans unveiled to make Sydney the ‘night-life capital of the world’Sydneysiders have been moaning about the city’s night-life for years but that could all be about to change thanks to a major new plan.
Read more »
Victorians should be 'hopeful and positive' about COVID pathway: AndrewsIf current trends continue, Christmas could be 'as close to normal as possible' and there could even be 'significant' crowds at the Boxing Day Test, Premier Daniel Andrews says.
Read more »
Magpie launches full aerial assault on junior rugby playerAustralia, it is magpie swooping season... and this young man has learnt the hard way after being repeatedly swooped while playing a game of football, even eventually having to retreat to the sideline to escape the aerial assault. 9News MORE:
Read more »
Victoria's lockdown restrictions ease, possible further changes this weekVictoria’s strict lockdown restrictions have eased this morning. The curfew has changed to 9pm-5am, the daily exercise limit has increased from one hour to two hours and single Melburnians can now nominate one person to visit their homes. 9News MORE:
Read more »
Victorian Government announces $3b coronavirus business support packageThe Victorian Government announces a coronavirus business support package worth about $3 billion, which Premier Daniel Andrews calls the 'biggest package of business support' the state has ever seen.
Read more »