On September 14 a research group from MIT published an article in Nature Astronomy detailing their detection of Phosphine gas in the atmosphere of Venus. In their publication they discuss the details of their discovery and due to a lack of known abiotic production routes conclude that the gas could potentially be due to the presence of Life!
Several UWAB faculty members, including Program Director Victoria Meadows who has years of experience studying Venus, have since been interviewed by various media outlets and contributed to several news articles about the discovery. Some of these articles are listed below:
- https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/grand-claims-of-life-on-venus-lack-evidence-skeptics-say/ar-BB19t9nI
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2020/09/15/venus-life-is-still-a-longshot/#997efd1cd5ca
- https://www.wired.com/story/dr-phosphine-and-the-possibility-of-life-on-venus/
- https://www.theverge.com/21428796/venus-gas-life-sign-discovery-phosphine-biosignature
- https://www.space.com/venus-clouds-possible-life-chemical-discovery.html
You can also read the original publication on Nature.com here.