Our search for alien life continues as scientists strive to answer the question of our loneliness in the universe. Turns out we might not be as lonely or special as we think we are. As Science progresses and we are able to travel to the farthest corners of our galaxy, we have in fact started gathering primary signs of life.
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii has given us hope that we might finally have someone in this solar system sharing the space with us. The information that was later confirmed through Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescope in Chile shows that Venus, which was previously thought of as harshly acidic thereby making the existence of life form known to us clearly uninhabitable, has indication of Phosphine gas indicating that it can sustain some form of life after all.
The search for ‘biosignatures’ has led to this amazing revelation that life might indeed exist in previously thought of as harsh environments and gives hope to the ever-evolving space community. The toxic atmosphere of Venus that traps heat within is hot enough to melt lead. The news has generated waves of excitement because on Earth, anaerobic microorganisms have been known to produce phosphine in the absence of Oxygen. So next time you cross a marshy place or a sewage plant and wrinkle your nose just know that this is the exact same sign that helped us identify life on Venus. We might not find humans walking the surface any time soon but according to the hopeful Researchers at MIT it is a sound, or more accurately, a vision of life.
The discovery might not be as big as finding another four legged being but for now we rest assured with the knowledge that on a planet that was previously thought of as uninhabitable is in fact inhabited by microscopic organisms. Microbes might be our newly found neighbours. Is it too early to send them pie?