More doubts cast on potential signs of life on Venus

Space 21 October 2020

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An artist’s illustration of the atmosphere of Venus

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A new analysis has cast doubt on the recent signal of phosphine gas in Venus’s atmosphere, a finding that could potentially be a sign of life. The scientists who originally discovered this in September found that the quantity of the gas seen couldn’t be produced by any known chemical processes on Venus.

Now, a study of the data behind the original paper suggests there are no signs of the gas after all.

The original study, led by Jane Greaves at Cardiff University …

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