Venus brings the joy back to discovery

Venus.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

Venus has been described as "Earth's evil twin" and "a fiery wasteland." Now it has a surprising new attribute, according to scientists: possible home of extraterrestrial life.

While even Venus apologists admit that the planet is the "literal interpretation of a mythical hellscape," with temperatures that exceed 800°F and poisonous gases that would kill you in seconds, on Monday astronomers confirmed the discovery of a chemical, phosphine, in the morning star's atmosphere. "On Earth, certain microbes that thrive in oxygen-free environments, like at a sewage plant, are believed to produce the chemical," CNET explains. "The gas is highly toxic to humans and smells like decaying fish." (An MIT professor who spoke with NPR was less polite, describing it as smelling like "the rancid diapers of the spawn of Satan"). What's so cool about this smelly deadly rotting fish gas, though, is that "after much analysis, the scientists assert that something now alive is the only explanation" for Venus' levels of phosphine, The New York Times reports.

Though this doesn't confirm extraterrestrial life, it's still "pretty damn exciting," to quote David Grinspoon of the Planetary Science Institute. And as everyone's favorite astronaut, Chris Hadfield, tweeted, the implications are huge: "If there's life in the upper atmosphere of Venus," he wrote, "then we're going to find life on many planets and moons — and around other stars." Sure, that life might not be anything more advanced than a super stinky microbe, but the cosmos are still on the cusp of getting that much more crowded. Suddenly, the big black void above us doesn't seem quite as lonely as it once did.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Speaking as someone who really, really wants the truth to be out there, this is, needless to say, invigorating news — particularly as Venus was the dark horse in the search for alien life compared to her more popular brother, Mars. But beyond being an astonishing breakthrough in the field of astrobiology, the potential of life on (or around) Venus is the kind of feel-good scientific discovery this year has desperately needed.

That's not to mitigate the extremely important work scientists are doing to understand and cure COVID-19, or to grasp the climate science behind our historic hurricane season and the wildfires that have made the air quality on the West Coast downright Cytherean. But the anxiety and urgency driving such research in 2020 can also make me forget that scientific discoveries are a joy — and the Venus news is a reminder that there are still so many amazing things we have yet to learn, even about our own planetary neighbors next door.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.