Venus’ clouds are mostly composed of sulfuric acid. However, as an international team of researchers recently found, a peptide nucleic acid very similar to DNA may well survive even in such conditions.
Peptide acids in the clouds of Venus
An international team of scientists from universities in Europe and the United States recently published a study in the journal Science Advances that could significantly increase the chance of finding life on Venus. Estimates of the possibility of its existence there have fluctuated over the last century.
The reasons are that the perceptions of the neighboring planet as a humid and life-friendly world that prevailed in the first half of the 20th century changed after the first missions reached its surface. Scientists realized that it was a real hell, devoid of oxygen, but with an incredibly dense and hot atmosphere and sulfuric acid falling from the sky in the form of water.
Under such conditions, even the most robust Earth vehicles cannot operate for long periods of time, what to speak of organic beings? Therefore, for some time, Venus has become one of the least likely places for life to exist in the Solar System.
Life in the clouds
And nevertheless, in recent years, the trend has begun to change again. Ammonia and phosphine, which are often a product of microorganisms on Earth, have been found on Venus, and this has led scientists to think that it is still necessary to look for where on a neighboring planet it may exist.
Of course, the surface in such a case comes off. However, in the upper layer of clouds, the pressure and temperature are quite terrestrial, so scientists have already expressed ideas about what to look for there. True, the clouds still consist of droplets of the very same sulfuric acid with chlorine and iron added.
All this makes the existence of life there doubtful. However, a number of studies already confirm that it is possible there. And a new study is another argument in favor of that thought. The researchers recreated Venusian clouds in the laboratory and placed peptide nucleic acids in them.
By their structure, these substances are close relatives of DNA. They are also long chains made up of the same nucleotides as the carriers of genetic information. And studies have shown that they remain stable even in Venusian cloud conditions.
However, they still can’t withstand temperatures above 50°C. This means that researchers continue their search. But life on Venus has nevertheless become much more realistic.
According to phys.org
