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Possible Signs of Life Detected On Venus

Posted by timothy on from the well-it's-gotta-be-somewhere dept.

MoThugz writes "This article from the The Houston Chronicle discusses the discovery of mysterious swirling patches on the surface of the planet which may be communities of bacteria. These bacteria might be a genetically-enhanced version of the thermophiles which are known to survive in extreme temperatures. The article suggested the bacteria could be using ultraviolet light from the sun as an energy source, which would explain the presence of strange dark patches on ultraviolet images of the planet."

7 of 283 comments (clear)

  1. Ah... by rweir · · Score: 0, Troll

    This article from the The Houston Chronicle

    Ah, well it must be true!

  2. Oh Please... this is a retrograde step by Proquar · · Score: 1, Troll

    Do we really have to go through this again? We'd already done swirling mists on Venus - then Pluto's frozen oceans.. now we're back on the swirling mists of Venus - I don't think anything has changed:

    Some swirling anamolies 'could be life'... yeah right!?

    I don't care - bacteria, it's not relevant.. .it's a far cry from 'life'... in any interesting sense.. and it's also only a =maybe= 'bacteria'....

    Give us a digital watch (secondhand or so)... or a sock or a hat... a machine that goes 'ping' or 'beep'..
    but weird swirls - there's more than one of those in the universe... even more than one in the solar system - no doubt.

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    ---- *dog sitting next to a computer, with his beady eyes shifting left to right*
  3. Wont effect me by Mattygfunk1 · · Score: 1, Troll
    The benfits of finding that bacteria exists on Venus are these:

    • Help in prooving that life may exist on other more distant planets
    • Perhaps some insight into lifes origins on Earth
    • Good curiosity value
    Either way this wont change my life in any meaningful way except my paycheck will be needed to send up a few more space shuttles.

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    bling bling i love to ping

  4. There is no life at all there. by xutopia · · Score: 0, Troll
    Has anyone read any of Carl Sagan's books on this? People though there was life on the Moon a few centuries ago because of the craters they saw! People even thought they saw what looked like giant irrigation canals.

    There is no life elsewhere in the universe! Give it up.

  5. Researcher who cried LIFE! by ISPTech · · Score: 0, Troll

    Seems like the thing to do lately.

    Need research funds? Imply there might be life out there to the media.

    Sensationalism at its best.

    I for one am getting more cynical about claims of ET life. I think it'll get to the point where most people would have to shake hands with an alien to believe a "researcher" now.

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    This space intentionally left blank.
  6. Re:Slashdot is ruining everything! by Jedi+Alec · · Score: 0, Troll

    Oh, who cares about Karma anyway...

    You fuck. You have a BROWSER that allows POPUPS to open? YOU are a STUPID MOTHER FUCKER. With no evidence/nobody expecting anything to the contrary, that's not ironic. Just a sad fact.

    Now to get back to preaching Mozilla...oh wait, I just did.

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    People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
  7. Re:Not good news for terraformers by macdaddy357 · · Score: 1, Troll

    Terraforming is science-fiction. Why debate whether or not to do something that simply isn't possible.

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    How ya like dat?