Life on Venus?

The images used to create this view of Venus were acquired by the Mariner 10 craft on Feb. 7 and 8, 1974

This is kind of a big deal. It could mean just mean that there’s a smelly deadly gas out there, that can be created in ways that we don’t understand much. Yawn, right?

Of course, the excitement is that it could also mean that the gas came to be on Venus through means that we already understand … from life.

As Carl Sagan, who also hypothesized about ways for life to exist on Venus, said, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". To be clear, humans have not discovered life on Venus … yet. But, this is evidence that might indicate that there’s life on Venus. Following up on that evidence will be a huge challenge, and we might well find life, or proof of past life, on Mars first.

Related: