• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Life on Venus?

I find it hard to understand this part of the ecology of hydrothermal vents - and I have a similar problem with the Venus idea:

The hydrothermal vent microbial community includes all unicellular organisms that live and reproduce in a chemically distinct area around hydrothermal vents. These include organisms in the microbial mat, free floating cells, or bacteria in an endosymbiotic relationship with animals. Chemolithoautotrophic bacteria derive nutrients and energy from the geological activity at Hydrothermal vents to fix carbon into organic forms.
Hydrothermal vent microbial communities (Wiki)
Click to expand...


Why aren't bacteria around those vents constantly washed away to more (to them) inhospitable environments? My guess is that many probably are, but that enough of them somehow manage to stay close enough to the vents to continue to reproduce. I just don't see how they manage to do that.
And I have the same problem with microbial life in the Venus atmosphere. They would need some kind of mechanism for (enough of) them to stay, survive and reproduce in their 'Goldilock zone'.
I hope that it will be possible for an upcoming Venus mission to dip into the upper layers of the atmosphere and return with a sample.
 
Capsid said:
The protein kinases are common to all living organisms that we know of. Although viruses share no genes across the families?
Click to expand...


FTFY. Yes, but would the same DNA(-like) mechanism be required to produce those protein kinases? If we assume that ET lifeforms would be protein-based (and I think there's good reason to make that assumption), wouldn't similar, but not identical, ways of combining amino acids into those proteins be possible?
 
Just watched the latest Sky at Night show in the UK. EXtraordinary, they are so excited by this. The atmospheric analysis was done using two telescopes, JWMT and ALMA and the results strongly matched. They then discussed the process that the researchers used to examine as many processes that they could think of. A remarkable episode.
 
This would explain the lack of Amazon women on the moon. They were on Venus the whole time.
 
We are expecting to find life on Mars and just found it on Venus.
Nice.
It must be everywhere, yet just 4 amino acids collect on earth for a common ancestor.
Scientists are barking mad to believe all this nonsense.
 
Any scientist that believes there just 4 amino acids is barking mad indeed.
So are those commenting on biochemistry while showing such utter ignorance in my personal opinion though.
 
Puppycow said:
Well, so much for that theory. It was fun while it lasted.

Click to expand...


"Life on Venus: BUSTED!"

Well, of course the Venusian natives would be busted. Haven't you ever read any 1950s science fiction? Or even looked at the covers?
 
I am confused by the YouTube video. At around 29 minutes, he argues that phosphine can be produced from phosphide, phospide arising from fulgurine through lightning hitting phosphorus rich minerals. Yet, the reaction from phosphide to phosphine needs water and as he states Venus has no water. What am I missing?
 
The paper, which Thunderf00t obviously hasn't read, mentions lightning and how their modelling shows it cannot explain the amounts of phosphine found. Perhaps he should have spent a little more time reading the paper before making his video.
 
theprestige said:
Now imagine the press doing the exact same thing routinely, about every event they can.
Click to expand...
No need to imagine. See Fox News.

Ziggurat said:
Gell-Mann amnesia.
Click to expand...
Sweeping generalization is not a refutation. I can find correct sports scores in the same newspapers where I find poor journalism, for example. Then there is the practice of consulting various news sources to triangulate.

***
This isn't really new news, as the phosphine was detected and has been tracked for some time in the form of a periodic discoloration of Venus' atmosphere. As for the potential for it to be life:
  • Microbes on Earth can be found in the upper atmosphere. It's doable in principle, as are extremophile life forms.
  • Panspermia in the local system is not only likely, but nearly guaranteed, given the ongoing exchanges among planets.
  • Some simple life forms have already shown they can survive long in space, especially inside rocks.
  • That any traveling microbes would actually take hold on the recipient planet/moon is another matter altogether, so caution.
  • Extremophiles are not, however, evidence that life can arise in the environments to which it can, however, adapt, so caution.
Fun news, but not very much to go on. Yet.
 
While I find it more likely that phosphine would be produced on Venus due to an undescribed abiotic process, the video missed the shot somewhat when discussing both the lack of hydrogen and the formation of life on Venus.

Aside from panspermia, life in the upper atmosphere of Venus has another possible origin in being relict from before the planet became a greenhouse hellhole.

It is currently not known if Venus ever had water oceans, but it is thought that these would have evaporated into the atmosphere and had their water broken down due to sunlight, culminating in the hydrogen being blown away due to the planet's lack of a magnetic field to protect it from solar wind. The miniscule amount of hydrogen now is of course a problem for life to exist there currently.

Sent from my moto g(7) optimo maxx(XT1955DL) using Tapatalk
 
StillSleepy said:
While I find it more likely that phosphine would be produced on Venus due to an undescribed abiotic process, the video missed the shot somewhat when discussing both the lack of hydrogen and the formation of life on Venus.

Aside from panspermia, life in the upper atmosphere of Venus has another possible origin in being relict from before the planet became a greenhouse hellhole.

It is currently not known if Venus ever had water oceans, but it is thought that these would have evaporated into the atmosphere and had their water broken down due to sunlight, culminating in the hydrogen being blown away due to the planet's lack of a magnetic field to protect it from solar wind. The miniscule amount of hydrogen now is of course a problem for life to exist there currently.
Sent from my moto g(7) optimo maxx(XT1955DL) using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

If life requires hydrogen. It may not be life as we know it (Jim)*.

--------------------------------------------
* Not that anyone every actually said that on Star Trek. But Spock came close a couple of times.
https://scifi.stackexchange.com/que...-say-textually-its-life-but-not-as-we-know-it
 
Capsid said:
I am confused by the YouTube video. At around 29 minutes, he argues that phosphine can be produced from phosphide, phospide arising from fulgurine through lightning hitting phosphorus rich minerals. Yet, the reaction from phosphide to phosphine needs water and as he states Venus has no water. What am I missing?
Click to expand...

But doesn't life need water? Especially liquid water?

https://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/Water:_Molecule_of_Life.html

OK, so maybe it's not lightning, but I still don't see how life on Venus is possible without liquid water.
 
Clouds (on Earth, and I believe at the specified altitudes on Venus) are liquid water; it's just very fine droplets. Water vapour is largely transparent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom