Does Venus Have Life? With Dr. Janusz Petkowski

Does Venus Have Life? With Dr. Janusz Petkowski

From John Michael Godier's Event Horizon by John Michael Godier

April 15, 2026 · 1h 2m

About this episode

The episode discusses the recent detection of phosphine in Venus's atmosphere and its implications for the possibility of life on the planet.

Is There Life on Venus?Last week a team from MIT and Cardiff University announced the detection of Phosphine in the atmosphere at Venus our nearest neighbor. Phosphine (PH3) gas in Venus’s atmosphere should be in oxidized forms. Dr. Janusz Petkowski from the MIT team lead by Sara Seager, joins John Michael Godier on Event Horizon to discuss this finding in detail. Thank you to our many Patreons who submitted questions for this interview!John MathiasJames StricklandLink:Janusz Petkowski websitehttps://www.januszpetkowski.com/JMG video Have we Found Life at Venus?https://youtu.be/aDL0jbOnTtALife on Venus? Phosphine found in the Clouds Featuring R.J. Graham https://youtu.be/7YNxMVJN-HkPapers: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.pdfSilicon Life:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/10/6/84The 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…

People in this episode

Host: John Michael Godier

Guest: Dr. Janusz Petkowski

Topics covered

  • Venus
  • life on Venus
  • phosphine
  • atmosphere
  • astrobiology
  • MIT research

Keywords

  • Venus
  • phosphine
  • life
  • atmosphere
  • MIT
  • astrobiology
  • clouds

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: MIT, Cardiff University

Books & works: Phosphine gas in the cloud decks of Venus, Phosphine on Venus Cannot be Explained by Conventional Processes, Silicon Life, The Venusian Lower Atmosphere Haze as a Depot for Desiccated Microbial Life: A Proposed Life Cycle for Persistence of the Venusian Aerial Biosphere, Phosphine as a Biosignature Gas in Exoplanet Atmospheres

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