Life floating in the clouds of planet Venus? | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
July 11, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2025
Life floating in the clouds of planet Venus?

World+Biz

TBS Report
14 September, 2020, 10:00 pm
Last modified: 14 September, 2020, 10:31 pm

Related News

  • Aliens might be living among us disguised as humans, Harvard study claims
  • Pentagon finds no sign of alien life in decades of UFO sightings
  • China's Sky Eye telescope may have detected signals from alien civilisations
  • US Congress to hold first public UFO panel

Life floating in the clouds of planet Venus?

Given everything known about Venus and the conditions that exist there, no-one has yet been able to describe an abiotic pathway to phosphine

TBS Report
14 September, 2020, 10:00 pm
Last modified: 14 September, 2020, 10:31 pm
Planet Venus. Picture: Reuters
Planet Venus. Picture: Reuters

Scientists are now considering that living organisms are floating in the clouds of planet Venus after detecting a gas in the atmosphere that they can't explain.

That gas is phosphine - a molecule made up of one phosphorus atom and three hydrogen atoms, reports the BBC.

On Earth, phosphine is associated with life, with microbes living in the guts of animals like penguins, or in oxygen-poor environments such as swamps.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Prof Jane Greaves, from Cardiff University and colleagues are inquiring as to how phosphine gas got in the clouds of Venus.

They have published a paper in the journal Nature Astronomy detailing their observations of phosphine at Venus, as well as the investigations they've made to try to show this molecule could have a natural, non-biological origin.

Given everything known about Venus and the conditions that exist there, no-one has yet been able to describe an abiotic pathway to phosphine, not in the quantities that have been detected - bringing a life source in consideration.

"Through my whole career I have been interested in the search for life elsewhere in the Universe, so I'm just blown away that this is even possible," Prof Greaves said.

"But, yes, we are genuinely encouraging other people to tell us what we might have missed. Our paper and data are open access; this is how science works."

Prof Greaves' team first identified phosphine at Venus using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, and then confirmed its presence using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile.

Phosphine has a distinctive "absorption line" that these radio telescopes discern at a wavelength of about 1mm. The gas is observed at mid-latitudes on the planet at roughly 50-60km in altitude. The concentration is small - making up only 10-20 parts in every billion atmospheric molecules - but in this context, that's a lot.

Venus is not at the top of the list when thinking of life elsewhere in the Solar System. With 96 percent of the atmosphere made up of carbon dioxide, it has experienced a runaway greenhouse effect. Surface temperatures are lover 400 degrees.

Space probes that have landed on the planet have survived just minutes before breaking down. And yet, go 50km up and it's actually "shirtsleeves conditions". So, if there really is life on Venus, this is exactly where one might expect to find it.

The clouds. They're thick and they're mainly composed (75-95 percent) of sulphuric acid, which is catastrophic for the cellular structures that make up living organisms on Earth.

Dr William Bains, who's affiliated to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, is a biochemist on the team. He has studied various combinations of different compounds expected to be on Venus; he has examined whether volcanoes, lightning and even meteorites could play a role in making PH3 - and all of the chemical reactions he has investigated, he said, are 10,000 times too weak to produce the amount of phosphine that's been observed.

To survive the sulphuric acid, Dr Bains believes, airborne Venusian microbes would either have to use some unknown, radically different biochemistry, or evolve a kind of armour.

"In principle, a more water-loving life could hide itself away inside a protective shell of some sorts inside the sulphuric acid droplets," he told Sky At Night.

"We are talking bacteria surrounding themselves by something tougher than Teflon and completely sealing themselves in. But then how do they eat? How do they exchange gases? It's a real paradox."

 

Top News

Alien Life / Planet Venus / Phosphine Gas

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • How tender rules and a lone bidder stall a $2.5b power plant
    How tender rules and a lone bidder stall a $2.5b power plant
  • Bangladesh and US hold tariff talks for second day on 9July 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    35% tariff: Bangladesh, US 'reach general consensus on some issues' on second day of talks; final round today
  • BNP senior leader Salahuddin Ahmed. Photo: Collected
    No scope for electoral alliance with Jamaat, door not closed for NCP: BNP's Salahuddin

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Mohammad Minhaj Uddin/TBS
    SSC, equivalent results: Pass rate drops to 68.45%, GPA-5 also declines
  • In terms of stream of education, girls maintained their excellence as well. Photo: TBS
    SSC 2025: Girls dominate boys by over 5%
  • Govt vehicle purchase, foreign trip, new building construction banned: Finance ministry
    Govt vehicle purchase, foreign trip, new building construction banned: Finance ministry
  • Students sit for SSC exam at Motijheel Girls' High School on 10 April 2025. Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS
    SSC exam results out: Here's how you can check online and via SMS
  • The overall pass rate across all boards this year, 68.45%, is significantly lower than last year's. Photo: Focus Bangla
    SSC 2025: Rajshahi board records highest pass rate, Barishal lowest
  • Representational image. Photo: Collected
    35% tariff: Bangladesh, US 'agree on most issues' as first day of talks ends

Related News

  • Aliens might be living among us disguised as humans, Harvard study claims
  • Pentagon finds no sign of alien life in decades of UFO sightings
  • China's Sky Eye telescope may have detected signals from alien civilisations
  • US Congress to hold first public UFO panel

Features

Photo: Collected/BBC

What Hitler’s tariff policy misfire can teach the modern world

15h | The Big Picture
Illustration: TBS

Behind closed doors: Why women in Bangladesh stay in abusive marriages

18h | Panorama
Purbachl’s 144-acre Sal forest is an essential part of the area’s biodiversity. Within it, 128 species of plants and 74 species of animals — many of them endangered — have been identified. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS

A forest saved: Inside the restoration of Purbachal's last Sal grove

18h | Panorama
Photo: Rajib Dhar/TBS

11 July 2024: Riot vehicles, water cannons hit the streets as police crack down on protesters

11h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

'Hypocrisy' will not continue, Iran tells IAEA

'Hypocrisy' will not continue, Iran tells IAEA

14h | TBS World
OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome

OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome

14h | TBS World
Will the title 'Honorable and Excellency' be abolished?

Will the title 'Honorable and Excellency' be abolished?

15h | TBS Today
July Declaration must be constitutionally recognized: Akhtar Hossain

July Declaration must be constitutionally recognized: Akhtar Hossain

14h | TBS Today
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net