As an old saying goes, Russia: "Pics or it didn't happen". However, it would be cool if they do provide evidence and it looks authentic.

Mr.Mattress:
As an old saying goes, Russia: "Pics or it didn't happen". However, it would be cool if they do provide evidence and it looks authentic.

Im guessing as he claims the objects in the photos "could be described as" the various apparently organic shapes, even if he provided the photos they would be just as much use as evidence for extraterrestrial life as a photo of a floating blob in the sky.

To me, this just sounds like hes gotten over excited about a daydream he had where those shapes were alive.

Isn't Venus's day length longer than it's year meaning one side is basically super hot and the other super cold, therefore it would be way to cold and hot at the same time for life (even for extremophiles) to exist Or am I completely wrong on this.

Mr.Mattress:
As an old saying goes, Russia: "Pics or it didn't happen". However, it would be cool if they do provide evidence and it looks authentic.

In Soviet Russia, pictures take YOU!

I guess technically there could be "life" "anywhere"... But until you have something more concrete than some dark shapes on a black & white photograph, it should probably just be considered speculative fiction.

rollerfox88:

Im guessing as he claims the objects in the photos "could be described as" the various apparently organic shapes, even if he provided the photos they would be just as much use as evidence for extraterrestrial life as a photo of a floating blob in the sky.

To me, this just sounds like hes gotten over excited about a daydream he had where those shapes were alive.

I can make shadow puppets that "could be described as" a swan or a duck.

Real life iridonians, you say?

Acid clouds? High temperature? Poison atmosphere..? (Shudders)

The only life-form I could imagine existing on a planet like that would be a Xenomorph a la "Alien"...I.E. DON'T LAND THERE!!!!

Ignatz_Zwakh:
Acid clouds? High temperature? Poison atmosphere..? (Shudders)

The only life-form I could imagine existing on a planet like that would be a Xenomorph a la "Alien"...I.E. DON'T LAND THERE!!!!

Well if anything was alive there I doubt it would be able to survive in our atmosphere so I think we will be fine.

Thank you for reminding me of that incredibly sad story, Mr. Tito. I think I'm going to go cry in a corner now.

Zachary Amaranth:

rollerfox88:

Im guessing as he claims the objects in the photos "could be described as" the various apparently organic shapes, even if he provided the photos they would be just as much use as evidence for extraterrestrial life as a photo of a floating blob in the sky.

To me, this just sounds like hes gotten over excited about a daydream he had where those shapes were alive.

I can make shadow puppets that "could be described as" a swan or a duck.

I consider that concrete evidence of the existence of swans and/or ducks.

Wow seriously? This again? Wasn't the subject brought up the moment the pictures where taken, 60 years ago? The 'disk' is just the lens cap from one of the cameras.
As for the scorpion. Its a blur. Just because you can't recognize what it is, doesn't mean that it is what you make up.

Though I don't exclude the possibility of life on Venus. It could be non-carbon based life.

Don't you need some kind of stable fluid to support life? What is he postulating this fluid is? Fucking battery acid? And the atmosphere there is crazy reactive. Whatever the fuck could survive that. it certainly shouldn't be allowed to exist within my universe. I say we nuke Venus from orbit just to make sure.

Heh-- leave it to the russians to find some reason to keep going back to venus.

I don't think they've ever managed a properly successful mission to Mars, so keep building reasons to go to what you're good at!

I'm thinking "not life." It could always happen, of course, I just don't think its likely.

I clicked on the link from Facebook. The description said "Science!". Nice trolling me, Escapist.

Of there is. Did you really think we would forget about all that business back in Rome during the 50s?

spectrenihlus:
Isn't Venus's day length longer than it's year meaning one side is basically super hot and the other super cold, therefore it would be way to cold and hot at the same time for life (even for extremophiles) to exist Or am I completely wrong on this.

Going to wikipedia and verifying this seems like more work than I feel like doing at the moment, but I believe that's Mercury.

That said, Venus is definitely still too hot for extremophiles.

Venus is the closest place to hell in our solar system. Even if something was alive down there - and considering where life exists in parts of our planet, I'm not ruling it out - we wouldn't be able to get near it to take photos as detailed as the image of a scorpion, so I'm a little skeptical about this claim.

Cody Holden:

spectrenihlus:
Isn't Venus's day length longer than it's year meaning one side is basically super hot and the other super cold, therefore it would be way to cold and hot at the same time for life (even for extremophiles) to exist Or am I completely wrong on this.

Going to wikipedia and verifying this seems like more work than I feel like doing at the moment, but I believe that's Mercury.

That said, Venus is definitely still too hot for extremophiles.

You're both correct:

"Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days"

"All the planets of the Solar System orbit in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed from above the Sun's north pole: most planets also rotate counter-clockwise but Venus rotates clockwise (called "retrograde" rotation) once every 243 Earth days-by far the slowest rotation period of any major planet."

And yes the article does say that Venus is rotating opposite of how most of the planets rotate.

Why didn't you put the "Source: Times of India" at the TOP of the article? Then I wouldn't have bothered to read whatever sensationalist hobgubbins Indian journalists spew out.

Greg Tito:
snip

Okay, I'm sorry, but could it maybe be that there is some group of trolls calling themselves "Russian scientists" who constantly come up with stupid things they feed to news outlets? There have been roughly a dozen articles like this ("Russian scientists claim to have evidence for Yeti's existence" or something along those lines, for example) over the past couple of months and I refuse to believe that such people are called scientists and that Russia has such a large population of them.

The problem with searching for life in the universe is that we search for things that that are like the life on earth.
Something that needs O2 and H2O, carbon based.

It is highly possible that if we find a life form that doesn't fit that description, we would just overlook it.

And another problem is that journalists will write "Scientist says" in front of everything that they like so that it looks better and has "credibility".

BiH-Kira:
The problem with searching for life in the universe is that we search for things that that are like the life on earth.
Something that needs O2 and H2O.

It is highly possible that if we find a life form that doesn't fit that description, we would just overlook it.

And another problem is that journalists will write "Scientist says" in front of everything that they like so that it looks better and has "credibility".

Finally. Somebody else with that sentiment. Our only example of life is life on Earth...which could be totally unique. Perhaps it's not a 'perfect mix' of temperature and environment, we simply evolved out of what we were given, whereas the acid clouds of Venus are actually capable of supporting life. Not saying that they are, but it's definitely a ridiculous idea to just dismiss all possibility of life on non-Earth planets simply because 'science says it's impossible'.

Russia is a superpower isn't it, how can they afford a fucking space probe but not an HD color camera to put on it?

EDIT: It has come to my attention that these pictures were in fact taken in the 1980's.

I think the title here is very misleading. "Russian Scientist says there could be life on Venus" would be more appropriate and journalistically correct.

BiH-Kira:
The problem with searching for life in the universe is that we search for things that that are like the life on earth.
Something that needs O2 and H2O, carbon based.

It is highly possible that if we find a life form that doesn't fit that description, we would just overlook it.

And another problem is that journalists will write "Scientist says" in front of everything that they like so that it looks better and has "credibility".

That's pretty much what I was thinking. One has to remember that ours is not necessarily the standard for all life forms. In theory life could develop just about anywhere, all it really needs is a means to sustain itself and a means to reproduce. All that's needed is the right conditions for life to form on the first place, the rest is just a matter of adapting to the given environment. Now what those conditions are remains a mystery, esp considering ours is not the standard for life forms.

LarenzoAOG:
Russia is a superpower isn't it, how can they afford a fucking space probe but not an HD color camera to put on it?

Because the pictures where taken like... 30 years ago?

"Lets forget all the reasons that there can't be life on Venus and think about the possibility of life on MarsVenus."

I think Mr. Scientist needs to stay out of the vodka.

Greg Tito:
I think Ksanfomaliti is definitely bold for suggesting there could be life under those acidic clouds perfectly adapted to high temperatures and poisonous atmosphere but the thought experiment is more fiction than science. I once imagined that Venus was the birth place of the human race and we barely escaped the ecological disaster there to colonize Earth, but I was ten.

Well, In Star Trek, The Planet Vulcan is extremely similar to Venus.