Life as we know it could exist on Venus, new experiment reveals

[Admin]

Some of the building blocks of life are surprisingly stable in Venus-like conditions, according to a new lab experiment.

Life as we know it could exist on Venus, new experiment reveals : Read more

 

[Homer10]

OK, now this is getting strange Phosphine was one thing, but now we have this? If life can exists in Venus, then why not the Sun? How about Black Holes? life that can never get out.

 

[Catastrophe]

"MIT researchers have found that amino acids are stable in highly concentrated sulfuric acid."
From #1 reference.

"For most acidic environments, low pH facilitates metal solubility, and therefore acidic waters tend to have high concentrations of heavy metals. However, highly acidic environments are usually inhabited by acidophilic and acidotolerant eukaryotic microorganisms such as algae, amoebas, ciliates, heliozoan and rotifers, not to mention filamentous fungi and yeasts."

But does stable mean low/non - reactive? Just asking.

Cat

"Just showing that this backbone is stable in sulfuric acid doesn't mean there is life on Venus," said Maxwell Seager, an undergraduate student at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, who led the study. "But if we had shown that this backbone was compromised, then there would be no chance of life as we know it."

 

[Catastrophe]

""It doesn't mean that life there will be the same as here. In fact, we know it can't be," Sara Seager, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at MIT and co-author of the new study, said in a statement. "But this work advances the notion that Venus' clouds could support complex chemicals needed for life." From same reference.

Does this description conflict with "life as we know it"?

Cat

 

[Torbjorn Larsson]

A bit surprising, I would have thought cells needed more protection from the acid.

From #1 reference.

"For most acidic environments, low pH facilitates metal solubility, and therefore acidic waters tend to have high concentrations of heavy metals. However, highly acidic environments are usually inhabited by acidophilic and acidotolerant eukaryotic microorganisms such as algae, amoebas, ciliates, heliozoan and rotifers, not to mention filamentous fungi and yeasts."

Acids differ in action. Sulphuric acid attacks organics (though nitric acid is worse):

Sulfuric acid is very reactive and corrosive. It is soluble in water and ethyl alcohol. Its strong reactivity may ignite organic material (light paper, or other combustible materials) if mixed together.

https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/protection/npi/substances/fact-sheets/sulfuric-acid

 

[Catastrophe]

TL, are you quoting me???? #1 is Admin.

Cat

 

[Unclear Engineer]

"Life as I know it" involves warm pizza and chilled beer, neither of which would last long in the atmosphere of Venus, much less evolve there naturally.

(Headline writing editors need to remember the some folks will actually read the stories and realize that the headline writers tried to trick them into doing that.)

 

[Helio]

"Life as I know it" involves warm pizza and chilled beer, neither of which would last long in the atmosphere of Venus, much less evolve there naturally.

Yep, that's a good point with the pizza, though I'm not sure about the beer I've had lately.