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Soooooo, about that whole "phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus" thing. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/update-life-above-hell-serious-doubt-cast-on-venus-phosphine-finding
2/ Oh, you remember. Astronomers detected small amounts of phosphine gas in the clouds above Venus. There's no known non-biological way to make it at those amounts. This implies that maybe, *maybe*, Venus has life.
Except. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/so-astronomers-may-have-found-evidence-of-life-on-venus
Except. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/so-astronomers-may-have-found-evidence-of-life-on-venus
3/ Other astronomers have looked at the data, and found that it looks more like the detection may not be real. There are problems in the data processing, and possibly in the analysis after. Also, other observations don't show any phosphine.
That's troublesome.
That's troublesome.
4/ It doesn't mean the original claims are wrong, necessarily. But it does cast some very serious doubt on them. Not just the conclusions, but even if the *detection* of phosphine was real.
It's not clear to me which way to bet here. More data are needed.
It's not clear to me which way to bet here. More data are needed.
5/ It would take 20 more tweets to go into details, so just check my blog (and links to other articles therein). The investigation is ongoing.
Mind you, this is how science works. The team did their best, released their results, and asked others to dig in to the data.
Mind you, this is how science works. The team did their best, released their results, and asked others to dig in to the data.
6/ And so they did. I expect that, if the results turn out to be wrong, then the original team will issue a retraction and we'll all move on. It happens.
And if they were right? Well, that would be pretty cool, too.
This guy's talked about it before: https://www.ted.com/talks/phil_plait_the_secret_to_scientific_discoveries_making_mistakes
And if they were right? Well, that would be pretty cool, too.
This guy's talked about it before: https://www.ted.com/talks/phil_plait_the_secret_to_scientific_discoveries_making_mistakes
7/7 Still, Venus. What a place! Literally covered in volcanoes, atmosphere like a flaming ocean. Why does it rotate so slowly? When did it become such a hellish place?
Phosphine or no, we need to explore this planet a *lot* more.
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/update-life-above-hell-serious-doubt-cast-on-venus-phosphine-finding
/fin
Phosphine or no, we need to explore this planet a *lot* more.
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/update-life-above-hell-serious-doubt-cast-on-venus-phosphine-finding
/fin
