Its traces have been found in the clouds of Venus. It is phosphine, a gas that here on Earth can be produced by anaerobic microorganisms and that could, for now only by analogy, be a spy for some form of life on the planet
(image: Photo12 / Universal Images Group via Getty Images) It is the most used and most searched word of the last hours. This is phosphine, a gas that can be produced in different ways, including from biological sources. Its traces have just been detected in the atmosphere of Venus by an international team of scientists who in the pages of Nature Astronomy have advanced, among various hypotheses, that of the possible presence of some form of microbial life on the planet. However, great caution is still needed in interpreting the results, also because researchers have not yet been able to pinpoint where this gas comes from. But what exactly is phosphine?
