OMG life on Venus!!! Well, now, hold on there Tex. Yes, astronomers announced this month that they'd found phosphine in the atmosphere of our planetary neighbour. And yes, phosphine is a pretty decent biosignature, a chemical that is pretty strongly associated with life here on Earth. Emily digs deep to explain the big gap between "Hey, look — phosphine! Huh." and "We found aliens!"
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Syzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.
On the web: syzygy.fm | Twitter: @syzygypod
Things we talked about in this episode:
Lead scientist Jane Greaves explains (video)
Another good video about phosphine (Periodic Videos)
Venus and the runaway greenhouse effect
Extremophiles on Earth
The Pigeon, the Antenna and Me (video)
Missions to Venus
First photos from Venus
Parker Solar Probe mission
BepiColombo’s Venus fly-by
How hot is the surface of Venus again?