There’s something weird going on in the clouds of Venus.
Scientists have known this for decades and have long been interested in studying the planet’s atmosphere.
In those clouds, planetary scientists have spotted a range of unusual chemical signatures.
But curiously, it exists in much higher abundance closer to the surface.
In the cloud layer, the abundance of sulfur dioxide is drastically reduced.
Now here’s where the “aliens” part comes in but don’t jump to any conclusions.
On Earth, oxygen is a way for living things to make energy.
The modelling suggested they could.
Not dead yet
Of course, the researchers also state that thisdoesn’tmean Venus is a dead planet.
There may be other ways sulfur dioxide is removed by biological mechanisms, too.
We simply don’t know enough yet.
However, there’s a growing body of evidence that even Venus' clouds are too harsh for life.
Almost a year ago, researchers from Queen’s University Belfast came to similar conclusions.
“There’s lots of strange chemistry to follow up on,” Jordan notes.
