Life on Venus? Phosphine found in the Clouds Featuring R.J. Graham episode artwork

EPISODE · May 12, 2026 · 26 MIN

Life on Venus? Phosphine found in the Clouds Featuring R.J. Graham

from John Michael Godier's Event Horizon · host John Michael Godier

A team of Astronomers from Cardiff University and MIT announced today the discovery of finding a rare molecule, phosphine, in the clouds of Venus. Here on Earth, Phosphine is usually only found to be made by microbes that live in oxygen-free environments or made industrially. There have been past hints of life in the clouds of Venus, where the temperature is much more hospitable for life than the surface. This finding of Phosphine on Venus could be a hint that alien life exists there.R.J. Graham is a Department of Physics student in Atmospheric PhysicsClarendon Laboratory working in Ray Pierrehumbert's group at Oxford. Currently his research is focused on modeling geochemical climate feedbacks on rocky planets. He is supported by a Clarendon Scholarship.JMG video: https://youtu.be/aDL0jbOnTtAPapers:Phosphine gas in the cloud decks of Venushttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-1174-4Phosphine on Venus Cannot be Explained byConventional Processeshttps://arxiv.org/pdf/2009.06499.pdfThe Venusian Lower Atmosphere Haze as a Depot for Desiccated Microbial Life: A Proposed Life Cycle for Persistence of the Venusian Aerial Biospherehttps://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/ast.2020.2244Phosphine as a Biosignature Gas in ExoplanetAtmosphereshttps://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1910/1910.05224.pdfThumbnail: Image: planet-c project team/JAXAWant to support the channel?Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EventHorizonShowFollow us at other places!Website: https://www.eventhorizonshow.com/Twitter: @jmgeventhorizonInstagram: @jmgeventhorizonMusic featured on Event Horizonhttps://stellardrone.bandcamp.com/https://migueljohnson.bandcamp.com/https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/https://aeriumambient.bandcamp.com/FOOTAGE:NASAESA/HubbleESO - M.KornmesserESO - L.CalcadaESO - Jose Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org)NAOJUniversity of WarwickGoddard Visualization StudioLangley Research CenterPixabay

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published May 12, 2026

Embed this episode

NOW PLAYING

Life on Venus? Phosphine found in the Clouds Featuring R.J. Graham

0:00 26:04

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of John Michael Godier's Event Horizon?

This episode is 26 minutes long.

When was this John Michael Godier's Event Horizon episode published?

This episode was published on May 12, 2026.

Can I download this John Michael Godier's Event Horizon episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!