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A12 SCIENCE
Wednesday 16 september 2020
Astronomers see possible hints of life in Venus's clouds

By SETH BORENSTEIN no water. at the Lunar and Planetary
AP Science Writer "Venus is hell. Venus is kind Institute in Houston who
Astronomers have found a of Earth's evil twin," Cle- specializes in Venus and
potential sign of life high in ments said. "Clearly some- Mars and isn't part of the
the atmosphere of neigh- thing has gone wrong, very study team.
boring Venus: hints there wrong, with Venus. It's the Filiberto said the levels of
may be bizarre microbes victim of a runaway green- phosphine found might be
living in the sulfuric acid- house effect." explained away by volca-
laden clouds of the hot- But that's on the surface. noes. He said recent stud-
house planet. Seager said all the action ies that were not taken into
Two telescopes in Hawaii may be 30 miles (50 kilo- account in this latest re-
and Chile spotted in the meters) above ground in search suggest that Venus
thick Venusian clouds the the thick carbon-dioxide may have far more active
chemical signature of layer cloud deck, where it's volcanoes than originally
phosphine, a noxious gas about room temperature or thought. But Clements said
that on Earth is only associ- slightly warmer. It contains that explanation would
ated with life, according to droplets with tiny amounts make sense only if Venus
a study in Monday's journal of water but mostly sulfuric were at least 200 times
Nature Astronomy. acid that is a billion times as volcanically active as
Several outside experts more acidic than what's Earth.
— and the study authors This May 2016 photo provided by researcher Jane Greaves found on Earth. David Grinspoon, a Wash-
themselves — agreed this shows the planet Venus, seen from the Japan Aerospace Explo- The phosphine could be ington-based astrobiologist
is tantalizing but said it is far ration Agency's Akatsuki probe coming from some kind at the Planetary Science
from the first proof of life on Associated Press of microbes, probably sin- Institute who wrote a 1997
another planet. They said gle-cell ones, inside those book suggesting Venus
it doesn't satisfy the "ex- biosignatures. After three badgers and perhaps most sulfuric acid droplets, liv- could harbor life, said the
traordinary claims require astronomers met in a bar unpleasantly associated ing their entire lives in the finding "almost seems too

extraordinary evidence" in Hawaii, they decided to with piles of penguin gua- 10-mile-deep (16-kilometer- good to be true."
standard established by look that way at the closest no," Clements said. deep) clouds, Seager and "I'm excited, but I'm also
the late Carl Sagan, who planet to Earth: Venus. They Study co-author Sara Sea- Clements said. When the cautious," Grinspoon said.
speculated about the pos- searched for phosphine, ger, an MIT planetary sci- droplets fall, the potential "We found an encouraging
sibility of life in the clouds of which is three hydrogen entist, said researchers "ex- life probably dries out and sign that demands we fol-
Venus in 1967. atoms and a phosphorous haustively went through could then get picked up low up."
"It's not a smoking gun," said atom. every possibility and ruled in another drop and reani- NASA hasn't sent any-
study co-author David Cle- On Earth, there are only all of them out: volcanoes, mate, they said. thing to Venus since 1989,
ments, an Imperial College two ways phosphine can lightning strikes, small mete- Life is definitely a possibility, though Russia, Europe and
of London astrophysicist. be formed, study authors orites falling into the atmo- but more proof is needed, Japan have dispatched
"It's not even gunshot resi- said. One is in an industrial sphere. ... Not a single pro- several outside scientists probes. The U.S. space
due on the hands of your process. (The gas was pro- cess we looked at could said. agency is considering two
prime suspect, but there is duced for use as chemi- produce phosphine in high Cornell University astrono- possible Venus missions.
a distinct whiff of cordite in cal warfare agent in World enough quantities to ex- mer Lisa Kaltenegger said One of them, called DA-
the air which may be sug- War I.) The other way is as plain our team's findings." the idea of this being the VINCI+, would go into the
gesting something." part of some kind of poorly That leaves life. signature of biology at work Venusian atmosphere as
As astronomers plan for understood function in ani- The astronomers hypoth- is exciting, but she said we early as 2026.
searches for life on planets mals and microbes. Some esize a scenario for how life don't know enough about Clements said his head tells
outside our solar system, a scientists consider it a waste could exist on the inhospi- Venus to say life is the only him "it's probably a 10%
major method is to look for product, others don't. table planet where tem- explanation for the phos- chance that it's life," but his
chemical signatures that Phosphine is found in "ooze peratures on the surface phine. "I'm not skeptical, I'm heart "obviously wants it to
can only be made by bio- at the bottom of ponds, the are around 800 degrees hesitant," said Justin Filiber- be much bigger because it
logical processes, called guts of some creatures like (425 degrees Celsius) with to, a planetary geochemist would be so exciting."q

Perfectly preserved Ice Age cave bear found in Arctic Russia

Reindeer herders in a Rus- Yakutsk, the premier cen- A preliminary analysis indi- and the East Siberian Sea.
sian Arctic archipelago ter for research into woolly cated that the adult bear At about the same time,
have found an immacu- mammoths and other pre- lived 22,000 to 39,500 years a well-preserved carcass
lately preserved carcass of historic species, hailed the ago. of a cave bear cub has
an Ice Age cave bear, re- find as groundbreaking. "It is necessary to carry out also been found in another
searchers said Monday. In a statement issued by radiocarbon analysis to de- area in Yakutia's mainland,
The find, revealed by the the university, researcher termine the precise age the university said. It didn't
melting permafrost, was Lena Grigorieva empha- of the bear," the university describe its condition in de-
discovered on the Lyak- sized that "this is the first quoted researcher Maxim tail but noted that scientists
hovsky Islands with its teeth and only find of its kind — Cheprasov as saying. are hopeful of obtaining its
and even its nose intact. a whole bear carcass with The bear carcass was found DNA. Recent years have
Previously scientists only soft tissues." by reindeer herders on Bol- seen major discoveries of
had been able to discover "It is completely preserved, shoy Lyakhovsky Island. It mammoths, woolly rhinos,
the bones of cave bears with all internal organs in is the largest of the Lyak- Ice Age foal, several pup-
that became extinct 15,000 place, including even its hovsky Islands, which are pies and cave lion cubs as
years ago. nose," Grigorieva said. "This part of the New Siberian Is- the permafrost melts across
Scientists of the North-East- find is of great importance lands archipelago that lies vast areas in Russia's region
ern Federal University in for the whole world." between the Laptev Sea of Siberia.q