Back in September 2020, the new broke that an unexpected gas, phosphine had been discovered in the atmosphere of Venus. While plans for making further measurements are progressing, the theoreticians have been hard at work modelling the atmosphere, and trying to explain how life could possibly exist in such a harsh environment

Dr William Bains, of Cardiff University and MIT, is part of a team who have developed a model that helps explain how microbial life might make the atmosphere of Venus more hospitable. On the way, it also solves a few other mysteries about our nearest planetary neighbour’s atmosphere. From an excess of water and oxygen to the disappearance of sulphur dioxide, and potentially non-spherical particles, could this be the solution that solves all of the mysteries?