Signs of the gas phosphine in Venus’s atmosphere have faded—but they’re still there, according to a new data analysis. In September, an international team of astronomers made headlines when it reported finding phosphine—a potential marker of life—in the planet’s atmosphere. Several studies questioning the observations and conclusions quickly followed. Now, the same team has reanalysed part of…Continue Reading
If phosphine detected on the planet next door is really a signature of alien biology, we can send a space probe to find out Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Most people tend to think of Venus as completely uninhabitable, given that its surface temperature hovers around 900 degrees Fahrenheit (480 degrees Celsius), which doesn’t seem very inviting. But…Continue Reading
The force sensor of the microrobotic system deflects a sensory hair of a fllytrap that is kept open by the sensors of the load cell. Credit: Hannes Vogler, UZH Venus flytraps catch spiders and insects by snapping their trap leaves. This mechanism is activated when unsuspecting prey touch highly sensitive trigger hairs twice within 30…Continue Reading
