Scientists Just Prove Life Could Exist on the Most Unexpected Planet in Our Solar System

“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may receive commissions or other income from these links.”

Here’s what you’ll learn by reading this story:

• In 2020, scientists discovered phosphine in the cloud cover of Venus, starting discussions about the possibility of microbial life in this mild but acidic environment.

• Subsequent studies have shown that many building blocks of life, including nucleic acid bases, dipeptides, and amino acids, are stable in an acidic environment, but DNA also needs a structural backbone.

• A new study examines whether cyclopentanes—five-membered ring structures similar to DNA—might make Venus a logical candidate in the search for life beyond Earth.

When it comes to the search for life beyond Earth, our Solar System has some pretty good people. Evidence of ancient life on Mars seems to be growing, and scientists are exploring the possibility of life in a protected pocket of our galaxy that we are about to explore in depth. For one, Europa (Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon) has a vast ocean beneath its ice that may have the perfect ingredients for life—and if so, NASA’s Europa Clipper will provide a solid confirmation when it reaches the moon in 2030. For one, recent data analyzed from the Cassini spacecraft, which allowed the 2 September probe into the atmosphere 7 September, which allowed the 7th location of the “swaturn” probe. scientists to discover organic compounds in the icy jet of Enceladus (the sixth largest moon of Saturn).

However, little thought has been given to Earth’s closest neighbor, Venus—and for good reason. Venus’s densest atmosphere is 95 percent carbon dioxide, which heats the planet’s surface to a cool temperature of about 464 ºC (867 ºF) and creates an air pressure 92 times that of Earth at sea level. In other words, you don’t want to be Venus.

But what about above it?

A team of MIT scientists is slowly piecing together an understanding of the possibility that life forms could exist in the atmosphere of Venus. In fact, the upper atmosphere can have temperatures ranging from 0 to 50 ºC—a milder thermal experience than the hellscape below.

Subsequent studies have shown that organic changes can occur only with sulfuric acid from simple starting materials (that is, carbon monoxide), and recent studies from MIT have confirmed that the building blocks of life – including nucleic acids, dipeptides and amino acids. again stable in the same acidic environment.

Now, in a new study published in the journal MoleculesMIT researchers looked for complex molecular structures (with a particular focus on complex polymers) that resist the degradation of sulfuric acid. Specifically, the team examined the cyclopentane motif as a stand-in for deoxyribose linkers (five-membered ring structures) that serve as the basis of DNA structure.

“Life requires more complex molecules—especially complex polymers—to carry out biological functions,” the authors wrote. In particular, the need to have genes with the same characteristics as RNA and DNA seems to be a universal requirement for life, regardless of the basic chemistry of life. “Identifying the genes of polymers that resist the destruction of large amounts of sulfuric acid becomes an important step in studying the possibility of life in areas where sulfuric acid is the main solvent.”

The team found that cyclopentane it does it actually serves as a suitable substitute for deoxyribose among other nucleic acid bases. This finding provides a compelling target for a possible mission to explore the atmosphere of Venus, especially after the discovery of phosphine in Venusian clouds in 2020, given that phosphine is a biosignature of anaerobic life on Earth. Slowly piecing together what microbial life might look like on Venus is quickly making the hellish planet a fascinating place to explore.

The authors wrote: “Although the complex chemistry of organic matter is not sufficient for life, its presence in the planetary environment provides an important requirement for the possibility of life. “Our experiments aim to identify at least one strong candidate for a gene-like polymer that may persist in the sulfuric acid clouds of Venus in order to stimulate space travel in the Venusian space to search for signs of life or life itself.”

You can also like