Study nixes life in clouds of Venus, but maybe in Jupiter’s?

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A new study is throwing cold water on the possibility of life in the clouds of Venus. His team looked at the most dry-tolerant and also the most acid-tolerant microbes on Earth — and they “wouldn’t stand a chance in Venus.” While the latest findings veto Venus at least for water-based organisms, they identify another planet — Jupiter — with enough water in the clouds and the right atmospheric temperatures to support life. “But still it’s a profound and exciting finding and totally unexpected.” Further studies will be needed to ascertain whether microbial life might exist deep in the clouds of Jupiter, according to Hallsworth and NASA astrobiologist Chris McKay, a co-author on the research paper published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy. “If there is life in the clouds of Venus, then this life has to be ‘Life as we do not know it,’ said astrobiologist Janusz Petkowski, a colleague of Seager’s at MIT. “The question is how different that life can be?” ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education.