Is there life on Venus?

A photo showing the night sky with the Milky Way, Venus and a torch beam

Source: © Siripong Kaewla-iad/Getty Images

Or just chemistry we don’t quite understand yet?

The news that phosphine has been detected in Venus’s upper atmosphere elicited great excitement among inorganic chemists recently. Oh, who am I kidding? The paper, with its live-streamed press conference, column inches and Sky at Night special, generated excitement among almost everyone as the gas’s presence could be evidence that life exists in the planet’s skies.