Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
LIFE IN JUPITER’S clouds could be possible, according to a new research report led by a Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) scientist.
The clouds surrounding the planet Jupiter have water conditions that would allow Earth-like life to exist, a research project from the School of Biological Sciences found, led by Dr John Hallsworth.
The clouds contain a high enough water concentration, as well as the correct temperature, to sustain life.
Jupiter is a gaseous planet made mostly of hydrogen and helium. It is made of three distinct cloud layers, according to NASA, with the top layer most likely being made of ammonia ice, the middle layer likely of ammonium hydrosulfide crystals, and the innermost layer may be of water ice and vapor.
The QUB research report also found that life would not be possible in the sulphuric gasses surrounding the planet Venus, disproving a claim proposed in a different study by an independent team of scientists last year.
Dr Hallsworth said that “the conditions of water and temperature within Jupiter’s clouds could allow microbial-type life to subsist, assuming that other requirements such as nutrients are present”.
“This is a timely finding given that NASA and the European Space Agency just announced three missions to Venus in the coming years,” he also said. “One of these will take measurements of Venus’s atmosphere that we will be able to compare with our finding.”
Space exploration has previously focused on finding life in areas where large bodies of water exist or existed, QUB said in a press statement. However, the new research shows that it isn’t what quantity of water that makes life viable, but the concentration of water molecules, known as water activity.
“The search for extraterrestrial life has sometimes been a bit simplistic in its attitude to water,” said Dr Philip Ball, British co-author of the report and expert on physics and chemical biology of water.
“As our work shows, it’s not enough to say that liquid water equates with habitability. We’ve got to think too about how Earth-like organisms actually use it – which shows us that we then have to ask how much of the water is actually available for those biological uses.”
Dr Hallworth said: “While our research doesn’t claim that alien (microbial-type) life does exist on other planets in our solar system, it shows that if the water activity and other conditions are right, then such life could exist in places where we haven’t previously been looking.”
The research team measured the water activity in the atmospheres of the planets Venus and Jupiter, to come to their conclusion. This was done without a model and was “based only on direct observations of pressure, temperature, and water concentration”, according to co-author of the report and NASA-based planetary scientist Professor Christopher McKay.
Dr Hallsworth said that the calculations were performed for Mars and Earth also, and show they can be done for planets outside of our solar system.
This discovery also comes after it was scientists theorised in late 2019 that there could be life in the ocean beneath the icy outer crust of Jupiter’s moon, Europa.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
More of this please Journal folk. Great read.
And Intellegent articles mean less food for trolls.
I agree but it’s spelt “intelligent”. Sorry I couldn’t resist it. ;)
I graduated with a masters in nanobioscience… and I find this article a bit strange.. why?
Well for most graduates like me, its still very very difficult to get work especially in nanoscience or related fields – in fact I’m returning to australia where I will find work.
Also because of the government cuts, its really difficult to get funding unless of course you are a professor…
I actually made attempts at growing human finger bones in the lab in the last 12 months, it worked. But I can’t get funding even though I have been asked to continue.
Instead of calling my thesis “An investiagtion into osteoblast adhesion…” I was going to call it “scientist gives ireland the finger…”
anyways, regarding nanoparticles, yes they can be dangerous, the particles can get into your lungs (potentially) and cause gradual respiratory deterioration. I’m quite concerned that there seems to be an “unhealthy” obsession with faster processors and non stick coatings but no ones asking what are the environmental/ health ramifications for producing these “products” . It just seems to be all about making a quick buck for some at the expense of everyone.
I know this feeling
The policy decisions of the Government with regard to Crann might be paying dividends for the Irish economy but in another centre for nanoscience in Ireland and the largest ICT research institute in Ireland, Tyndall in UCC, the government have refused to correct an anomaly between the pay and conditions of Tyndall-based UCC staff and that of the rest of the University. Tyndall-based UCC staff are paid up to 40% less than their peers in the same roles in UCC. Tyndall staff have not received any increments for more than 4 years as Tyndall-based UCC staff are not to be found on any of the pay scales which exist in the rest of the University and yet have received the same pay cuts as everyone else in the public sector.
This situation is now having a critically negative impact through:
o Failure to retain world class researchers
o Loss of research income
o Damage to UCC’s reputation
o An inability to attract key personnel
o Total destruction of Staff morale
The failure (and point blank refusal) of the government to rectify this anomaly that is affecting the 450 people in Tyndall does not sound like a government who view national research credentials as being extremely attractive and crucial to the economy.
I hope it gets sorted soon for the sake of the country,we cant afford not to,a class act like the Tyndall institute has always been to the fore in research.
Invest now, I heard Nano sciences are going to be huge!!! (“,) *I’ll get me coat.
1 nanometre = 1billionth of a metre.
1 hair is about 100,000 nanometres wide.
A six foot man is 1,828,800,000 nanometres tall.
Good luck cutting that cake, baggsy first slice. :D
My peepers are going, at first glance I saw a Storm Trooper……….
Working with nano particles will be very dangerous. It could be the new asbestos.
Think about it, there is no protective gear out there that these nano particles can’t get through, masks etc far as I know these particles can penetrate through your skin.
Excellent article. More like this m the journal please.
Fascinating
This is a good video explanation: http://youtu.be/70ba1DByUmM …
Used in making medicines to suit an individuals medicine requirements if a family has a defective gene that may cause some life threatening illness to be eradicated. also with the human genome already mapped out could be used to wipe out certain races or groups that other people may find an impediment to their world view. Great news but also worrying as well.
Great to see science getting coverage.
have your say