Is alien life really out there?
Humanity has wondered about it for decades,
and according to scientists,
this might finally be a reality.
Astronomers have discovered
there could be life on Venus.
Venus might not be as alien as you think.
The planet is roughly the same size as Earth,
and its gravity is 91% of our planet's.
We always talk about Mars being a potential
home for humans,
but we shouldn't count out Venus either.
And if there is life on the planet,
could this speed up our process of
making it our new home?
First, let's look into why exactly
scientists think there might be life on Venus.
It all has to do with phosphine.
This is a colorless,
flammable, and explosive gas that's also pretty stinky.
It smells like a mix of garlic
and decaying fish.
Ew.
This gas can be found on Earth,
and it's dangerous to everything that uses oxygen
to survive.
It was used as a chemical weapon during WWI,
and is a byproduct of cooking methamphetamine.
This gas is not very pleasant,
and it can be extremely deadly.
But now, astronomers have found
that phosphine might be in Venus' atmosphere.
At first glance,
this might seem like a terrible thing,
because this gas kills anything that breathes oxygen.
But that doesn't mean that life can't exist.
Just because something doesn't require oxygen
doesn't mean it's completely lifeless.
Inside Venus' clouds of phosphine,
there could be anaerobic bacteria.
These are organisms that don't require oxygen to survive.
They could be living on Venus,
producing this phosphine gas.
Keep in mind that all of this is not fully verified yet.
But astronomers have been keeping an eye on Venus
for nearly all of 2020,
and this is what they think they've discovered.
So if this type of alien life really did exist on Venus,
When you first hear about alien life, you probably think about
Martians with big heads, and us being able to shake their hands.
But that wouldn't be possible
with these life-forms on Venus.
As it stands right now,
we wouldn't be able to see any of the life on Venus
with our naked eye.
It's all bacteria and microbes.
And with all that potential phosphine on the planet,
it makes visiting Venus more dangerous for humans than ever.
So will we be meeting this life-form anytime soon?
Probably not.
Is this discovery still incredibly exciting?
Absolutely!
And sure, it's discouraging we haven't found Martians yet,
but try not to be too disappointed.
When discovering potential alien life,
we should remember to expand our ideas about
what exactly these alien life-forms could be.
They don't necessarily have to be something with
two or four legs that humans are able to interact with.
The possibilities for potential alien life
are endless,
things we can't even imagine yet.
And who knows what this current life-form could turn into.
It may start small, but in millions of years,
we might see Venus bloom into a planet full of organic life.
Life on Venus might not be limited to organisms living in phosphine gas either.
Experts think that due to all the extreme climates on the planet,
life could form almost anywhere.
And that goes for the rest of the Solar System too.
With scientists discovering potential life on Venus,
who knows what else is out there?
Researchers will just have to keep searching to find out.
Speaking of researchers,
one of the lead scientists who made this exciting Venus discovery
is on this week's What if Discussed.
We sit down with Dr. Sara Seager
to talk about how she found this potential life on Venus,
and what exactly it means for other life in the Solar System.
Check it out!