Russian Scientist Says There's Life on Venus

Revnak_v1legacy

Fixed by "Monday"
Mar 28, 2010
1,979
0
0
gigastar said:
Revnak said:
Don't you need some kind of stable fluid to support life? What is he postulating this fluid is? Fucking battery acid? And the atmosphere there is crazy reactive. Whatever the fuck could survive that. it certainly shouldn't be allowed to exist within my universe. I say we nuke Venus from orbit just to make sure.
Well a lifeform (i dont know what kind) was discovered on earth that uses deadly arsenic in its systems in place of where literally everything else uses phosphorus, and a slug at the bottom of the ocean that, for lack of better words, is made of metal.

Natrual selection and evolution can pull some crazy shit anywhere given the right conditions.
My real question was about the fluids. I am pretty certain life cannot exist without a stable fluid and am curious as to what kind of fluids that you would have on Venus.
 

Surpheal

New member
Jan 23, 2012
237
0
0
The only creatures that exist here on Earth that I can think of that could survive on Venus would most likely be deep sea tube worms. That or any of the other multitudes of creatures that live in abundance around hydrothermal vents.
 

Dyp100

New member
Jul 14, 2009
898
0
0
I think it's kind of silly to suggest life could only live in Earth-like enviroments.

What's the point of evolution, after all?

Plus we proved that we can create metal, AND arsonic based life...BUT, I see what you're saying. Proof or it didn't happen.
 

BanicRhys

New member
May 31, 2011
1,006
0
0
While those images aren't exactly proof, I have no doubt that there's a possibility of life existing on Venus. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremophile]
 

gigastar

Insert one-liner here.
Sep 13, 2010
4,419
0
0
Revnak said:
gigastar said:
Revnak said:
Don't you need some kind of stable fluid to support life? What is he postulating this fluid is? Fucking battery acid? And the atmosphere there is crazy reactive. Whatever the fuck could survive that. it certainly shouldn't be allowed to exist within my universe. I say we nuke Venus from orbit just to make sure.
Well a lifeform (i dont know what kind) was discovered on earth that uses deadly arsenic in its systems in place of where literally everything else uses phosphorus, and a slug at the bottom of the ocean that, for lack of better words, is made of metal.

Natrual selection and evolution can pull some crazy shit anywhere given the right conditions.
My real question was about the fluids. I am pretty certain life cannot exist without a stable fluid and am curious as to what kind of fluids that you would have on Venus.
Ah, well as far as i know a fluid needs to be a powerful solvent in order to serve in a lifeform. We have water, which is the most powerful solvent.

And on Venus, as far as human knowlegde is concerned it has mostly carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide. Neither of those are solvents.

Turning to theory i see that people think that there was once water on Venus too, so if there was any water on Venus prior to it becoming a the hottest plannet in our solar system, its probably still around somewhere.

Now i doubt that anything larger than bacteria has appeared on Venus, but if underground reserves of water somehow formed its possible that something could survive in those.
 

Revnak_v1legacy

Fixed by "Monday"
Mar 28, 2010
1,979
0
0
gigastar said:
Revnak said:
gigastar said:
Revnak said:
Don't you need some kind of stable fluid to support life? What is he postulating this fluid is? Fucking battery acid? And the atmosphere there is crazy reactive. Whatever the fuck could survive that. it certainly shouldn't be allowed to exist within my universe. I say we nuke Venus from orbit just to make sure.
Well a lifeform (i dont know what kind) was discovered on earth that uses deadly arsenic in its systems in place of where literally everything else uses phosphorus, and a slug at the bottom of the ocean that, for lack of better words, is made of metal.

Natrual selection and evolution can pull some crazy shit anywhere given the right conditions.
My real question was about the fluids. I am pretty certain life cannot exist without a stable fluid and am curious as to what kind of fluids that you would have on Venus.
Ah, well as far as i know a fluid needs to be a powerful solvent in order to serve in a lifeform. We have water, which is the most powerful solvent.

And on Venus, as far as human knowlegde is concerned it has mostly carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide. Neither of those are solvents.

Turning to theory i see that people think that there was once water on Venus too, so if there was any water on Venus prior to it becoming a the hottest plannet in our solar system, its probably still around somewhere.

Now i doubt that anything larger than bacteria has appeared on Venus, but if underground reserves of water somehow formed its possible that something could survive in those.
Ah, so it seems you know your stuff then. And that is precisely why I refuse to believe that we have or will find life on Venus until they can inform what and where the strong solvents are. Oh, and thanks for informing me the fluid needs to be a solvent.

I think when it comes to discovering life on other planets people are either too optimistic or too pessimistic. Some people think that if there are one or two markers that they'll find life there (any of water on mars types), some people think that unless all the markers are there that it isn't hospitable. While I tend towards the later, I do realize that water /= life and life /= water. You can have one without the other. Same with oxygen and carbon. All the building blocks can be changed as long as there is a suitable replacement I suppose. I don't have a single clue why I just decided to dump all these opinions out right now. Oh well.
 

Robert Ewing

New member
Mar 2, 2011
1,977
0
0
Eh, I think Venus's atmosphere is a little too extreme for any sort of life. But as the report said, we can't rule out that it had life on it 2 billion years ago, or even if it was habitable.
 

octafish

New member
Apr 23, 2010
5,137
0
0
blipblop said:
Monsterfurby said:
LarenzoAOG said:
Russia is a superpower isn't it, how can they afford a fucking space probe but not an HD color camera to put on it?
The cost of a time machine to get a decent camera from the future were probably too much to bear for 1982's Soviet Union...
oh russia how hard is it realy to get a dolorian up to 88mph
An actual DeLorean? Quite hard without it shaking itself to pieces first.

OT. I think I'll watch Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet when I get home tonight. Could that "scorpion" be John the Robot do you think?
 

plainlake

New member
Jan 20, 2010
110
0
0
Headline: "Russian Scientist Says There's Life on Venus"

"Text" Leonid Ksanfomaliti of the Space Research Institute of Russia's Academy of Sciences won't rule out the possibility of life on Venus.

Greg Tito, that was cheap. The difference between a scientist saying something is possible and saying that it is a fact are quite enormous. That it might be a possibility that man can travel faster than light does not mean that we currently are..
 

dagens24

New member
Mar 20, 2004
879
0
0
spectrenihlus said:
Isn't Venus's day length longer than it's year meaning one side is basically super hot and the other super cold, therefore it would be way to cold and hot at the same time for life (even for extremophiles) to exist Or am I completely wrong on this.
Extremophiles as we know them. Every decade we seem to discover some extremophile that blows everything we thought we knew about extremephiles out of the water. More and more we are seeing that life will find a way (thanks Jeff Goldbloom).
 

SciMal

New member
Dec 10, 2011
302
0
0
BiH-Kira said:
The problem with searching for life in the universe is that we search for things that that are like the life on earth.
Something that needs O2 and H2O, carbon based.

It is highly possible that if we find a life form that doesn't fit that description, we would just overlook it.

And another problem is that journalists will write "Scientist says" in front of everything that they like so that it looks better and has "credibility".
We can guesstimate due to the physical limitations of the chemistry involved. Certain molecules are extremely stabble over temperature ranges, and the stability determines possibilities. Water is very stable. DNA is more stable than RNA by orders of magnitude because it's missing an alcohol moiety (deoxy-). Aromaticity and charge diffusion create stability, bond types and saturation create stability.

Most important, these stabilities are only maintained over a certain range. Water is only liquid (at STP) for 100K. The more energy (pressure + heat) you put into the system, the more entropy you are forcing into the system. In simpler terms: The more energy you put into the system, the less stable molecules become. Bonds are going to be breaking more often, different states for different elements... and that's the key. What elements are available at the temps on Venus? What molecules can they form? How stable are these molecules?

Venus simply creates conditions where the selection of elements and molecules that could sustain a type of life is much smaller (nothing in you - amino acids on up - would survive). Is it impossible? No. However, the smaller the pool of molecules, the smaller the chance they'll configure in a way that could build life. That could result in billions or trillions of extra years to reach "life" - if ever.

That's why we look for Earth-like and certain other planetary types. It's a very stable system that supports a lot of possibilities.

Even the arsenic bacteria (which is still being confirmed) still relied on basic amino acids- the arsenic only replaced the Phosphorous in the backbone.
 

MaxwellEdison

New member
Sep 30, 2010
732
0
0
So, this might be off topic, but what is it with the escapist and sensationalist stories/titles? Honestly.

But yes, he seems to be pretty much wrong.
 

CardinalPiggles

New member
Jun 24, 2010
3,226
0
0
I think he said something more like, 'There could be life on Venus'

Anyway, I wouldn't rule it out to be honest, how do they know there are no oceans if they can't see through the thick blanket of this planets atmosphere. Besides, there are organisms on Earth that can survive in harsh environments, so why not Venus.
 

The Rogue Wolf

Stealthy Carnivore
Legacy
Nov 25, 2007
16,302
8,778
118
Stalking the Digital Tundra
Gender
✅
It would have to be some radically different life than what we're used to, considering your typical Venusian storm has more lightning activity than every storm on Earth all at once, the atmospheric pressure is ninety times our own, and the temperature is high enough to literally melt lead.

If anything managed to come to be back when Venus was more Earthlike, then survived the two billion years of its planet turning into a sulfuric hell, then we may finally have something badass enough to challenge Chuck Norris.

Maybe.
 

SamuelT

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2009
3,324
0
41
Country
Nederland
Hey. I'm a scientist. There's life on the sun.

Woah, guys! A dutch scientist claims there's life on the sun!
 

Daverson

New member
Nov 17, 2009
1,164
0
0
It's been theorized that bacteria exist on Venus for some time (have a read of this [http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/V/Venuslife.html]). I don't know about discs or scorpions though... Russian scientists tend to be a bit... you know...

Greg Tito said:
I once imagined that Venus was the birth place of the human race and we barely escaped the ecological disaster there to colonize Earth, but I was ten.
Might not be that far from the truth. Some scientists believe the first life on Earth migrated from Venus.

Obviously not in the sense of "they built a spaceship and came here millions of years ago", volcanic activity would have displaced bacteria, causing it to arrive on Earth. (Can't find a source, but I'm sure I read it somewhere)
 

personion

New member
Dec 6, 2010
243
0
0
In soviet russia-

Oh, somebody did that already.

Anyways, while reading that article I actually found out that Venus had liquid water on it two billion year ago. That's pretty crazy. It means that conceivably every planet could have had life on it, even the ones close to us, but they just ran their course and died out. Miiiind blowing.

Then again, I have no idea what I'm talking about so maaaybe not. Who knows!?
 

XMark

New member
Jan 25, 2010
1,408
0
0
Even though the surface of Venus is hostile to life as we know it, the upper atmosphere is far more hospitable, so there's a real possibility of at least bacterial life higher up.

Of course, until we get some real evidence one way or another it's all just speculation.

I would totally be excited to hear of life existing somewhere outside of Earth though, even if it was just bacterial.