A recent study published in Astrobiology investigates the potential habitability in the clouds of Venus, specifically how amino acids, which are the building blocks of life, could survive in the sulfuric acid-rich upper atmosphere of Venus. This comes as the potential for life in Venus’ clouds has become a focal point of contention within the astrobiology community in the last few years. On Earth, concentrated sulfuric acid is known for its corrosivity towards metals and rocks and for absorbing water vapor. In Venus’ upper atmosphere, it forms from solar radiation interacting with sulfur dioxide, water vapor, and carbon dioxide.
[embedded content]
Here, Universe Today discusses this new research with Dr. Sara Seager, who is a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a co-author on the study, regarding the motivation behind the study, how it builds off previous studies, and what this could mean regarding the search for life in the clouds of Venus. Therefore, what is the motivation behind this recent research?
“We are pushing forward the decades-old speculative idea that there might be some kind of microbial-type life in the clouds of Venus,” Dr. Seager tells Universe Today. “The surface of Venus is too hot for life, but just like on Earth as one climbs a mountain or goes up in an airplane, the temperature gets colder and colder above the surface. In the Venus clouds 50 km above the surface the temperature is just right for life. However, the clouds of Venus are not made of water as Earth clouds are, but sulfuric acid is a highly destructive and toxic chemical. The motivation is to explore whether or not sulfuric acid can support complex molecules needed for life.”
[embedded content]
For the study, the researchers examined 20 biogenic amino acids within sulfuric acid concentrations that mirrored Venusian atmospheric conditions. After four weeks, the researchers discovered that 11 of the 20 biogenic amino acids didn’t react—or exhibited stability—to the sulfuric acid concentrations while the eight amino acids exhibited stability in the sulfuric acid concentrations after experiencing alteration, and one experiencing instability after alteration. This alteration specifically pertained to the amino acid’s side chain, which is the part of the amino acid that contains each amino acid’s distinctive chemical characteristics, or its uniqueness compared to other amino acids. Along with demonstrating that amino acids remain stable in sulfuric acid concentrations, the study notes how this research “…also informs the possible origins of life on Venus, if life exists there.”
“We can broadly say that biochemistry of life on Earth is composed of four different categories of compounds: nucleic acid bases, amino acids, fatty acids, and carbohydrates,” Dr. Seager tells Universe Today. “Carbohydrates are not stable, but we are working through all the others. This work relates to the June 2023 study as a continuation of working through different classes of molecules. You’ll be hearing more as we make further progress.”
In addition to the June 2023 study, this recent study comes as discussions about the potential for life in the clouds of Venus continue to gain traction, including a myriad of studies between 2020 and 2021 being published in Astrobiology outlining the potential for habitable conditions for life within Venus’ clouds. These studies included using models to determine how life could be possible, the potential presence of phosphorus within the clouds, and a potential instrument package that could be used to sample aerosols within Venus’ clouds to detect potential biogenic markers.
[embedded content]
One such future mission that Dr. Seager mentions to Universe Today is Rocket Lab’s First Private Mission to Venus, which was outlined in a 2022 study published in Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics and which Dr. Seager tells Universe Today has a current scheduled launch date of January 2025. The mission is slated to use Rocket Lab’s configurable Photon spacecraft that will be fitted with a small, 1-kg (2.2-lb) scientific instrument whose purpose is to shine a laser into the clouds of Venus with the goal of literally lighting up potential organic molecules that might be present. But with all these studies and planned missions, will we ever find life in the clouds of Venus, and in what form?
[embedded content]
“If there is life it is most likely simple, single-celled life,” Dr. Seager tells Universe Today. “If we can continue to send space missions to probe the Venus atmosphere directly, we can make progress in answering this question.”
What further discoveries will researchers make about the potential for life in the clouds of Venus in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
