September 14th, 2020 at 11:01 PM
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/scien...phine-gas/
Detection of the chemical phosphine, PH3, phosphorus with hydrogens attached to it, has happened in the atmosphere of Venus. They say it is an energetically costly molecule that can only be made by either unknown chemical processes, or bacteria. It's not very common on Earth, because it can only be made by bacteria killed by oxygen, but Venus seems a suitable place for such a life form, if the phosphine is there, and it is life making it.
"But if phosphine really is floating through the Venusian cloud deck, its presence suggests one of two intriguing possibilities: that alien life-forms are deftly linking together phosphorus and hydrogen atoms, or that some completely unanticipated chemistry is crafting phosphine in the absence of life."
Detection of the chemical phosphine, PH3, phosphorus with hydrogens attached to it, has happened in the atmosphere of Venus. They say it is an energetically costly molecule that can only be made by either unknown chemical processes, or bacteria. It's not very common on Earth, because it can only be made by bacteria killed by oxygen, but Venus seems a suitable place for such a life form, if the phosphine is there, and it is life making it.
"But if phosphine really is floating through the Venusian cloud deck, its presence suggests one of two intriguing possibilities: that alien life-forms are deftly linking together phosphorus and hydrogen atoms, or that some completely unanticipated chemistry is crafting phosphine in the absence of life."
