Ronaldo Vieira Lobato @rvlobato@qoto.org

RT @physicsJ
The authors of the paper, the journal and RAS didn't over-sell this in my opinion, but lots of news outlets will run with "life on Venus" (see thread post 4/7 about weighting!).

This is totally worth our attention and a mission. We need to get a balloon probe over there! 7/7

RT @physicsJ
...pressures are the same as Earth at sea level, but 90% of the environment is ACID! If anything is living there, it's very strong.

If I assigned a % to cloud-life on Venus I'd give it a 10% chance. Seems low but that's very high from me: I'm pessimistic about these things. 6/7

RT @physicsJ
...finding life elsewhere in the universe would be one of the most profound world-changing things. Any fragment of hope, any hint of life, must be tracked down with dogged determination!

The Phosphine was found at ~50km above the surface of Venus, temperatures are 20°C... 5/7

RT @physicsJ
By process of elimination, two unknowns remain
1. there are unknown chemical or physical processes at Venus capable of producing Phosphine
2. life is producing Phosphine because it does on Earth

Most people aren't giving these two equal weight, but that's okay... 4/7

RT @physicsJ
Another production mechanism for Phosphine, they write, is: "by analogy with biological production of phosphine on Earth [...] from the presence of life." 3/7

That's the coolest line of text I've read in a paper in years!

RT @physicsJ
Once Phosphine was found they wanted to know where it came from, what chemical reaction chain led to its production? After including everything we *currently* know about the chemistry & physics on Venus in models of the atmosphere, they were unable to find a way to make it. 2/7

RT @physicsJ
So, do the clouds of Venus harbour life?

The paper released today reports the discovery of Phosphine at Venus. Phosphine can be produced *by life* as on Earth or *without life* as in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn (found in 1970s). 1/7
Image: JAXA/ISAS/DARTS/Damia Bouic

RT @andreabettini
Vita su #Venere? Su @RaiNews ne abbiamo parlato con John Robert Brucato di @mediainaf https://www.rainews.it/dl/rainews/media/venere-vita-tracce-John-Robert-Brucato-3ce9357a-9618-473c-9bac-709f3f96dc81.html

RT @ReutersScience
Signs of life on Venus: Scientists say they have detected in the harshly acidic clouds of Venus a gas called phosphine that indicates microbes may inhabit Earth’s inhospitable neighbor, a tantalizing sign of potential life beyond our blue planet https://reut.rs/2GRgDgm

RT @ea_sato
(PT-BR) Duas possibilidades - pode existir alguma reação completamente desconhecida criando fosfina, ou a opção mais excitante, pode haver vida, diz William Bains.

Sobre a possibilidade de termos detectado vida em Vênus! https://twitter.com/RoyalAstroSoc/status/1305525829259202561

RT @hertonescobar
Life on Venus? Astronomers See a Signal in Its Clouds https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/science/venus-life-clouds.html?smid=tw-share

RT @DrJorgeMelendez
A espetacular descoberta de fosfina na atmosfera de Vênus, e a possível associação com vida nesse planeta, tem uma contribuição importantíssima de mulheres astrônomas: foi liderada por Jane Greaves (Cardiff; esquerda) e com participação da Profa. Sara Seager (MIT; direita).

RT @SmartCryptology
@dfaranha Shows the system is broken

RT @dfaranha
After a 2-week delay in the notifications, PhD students I supervise got a paper rejected with only 2 reviews:

1. A single-paragraph borderline which would like to see more experiments.

2. A weak accept saying that the technique is very interesting, but unclear how general.