---
title: "Scientists Speculate About How Life on Venus Could Have Begun"
description: "A pair of scientists has some guesses for how any theoretical life hiding away under the acid clouds of Venus might have originated."
date: "2020-09-21"
modified: "2020-09-22"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/speculate-life-venus-began"
categories:
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "extraterrestrial life"
  - "the digest"
  - "Venus"
---

# Scientists Speculate About How Life on Venus Could Have Begun

![A pair of scientists has some guesses for how any theoretical life hiding away under the acid clouds of Venus might have originated.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/speculate-life-venus-began.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Institute of Space And Astronautical Science/Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency\</em\>*

## Speculative SETI

A week after scientists found evidence of chemicals in Venus' atmosphere which, they say, could [point to life](<https://futurism.com/signs-of-life-venus-phosphine>) in the planet's atmosphere, their colleagues have some guesses as to where those theoretical extraterrestrials could have come from.

In [an essay](<https://theconversation.com/if-there-is-life-on-venus-how-could-it-have-got-there-origin-of-life-experts-explain-146407>) published in *The Conversation*, two University of New South Wales Sydney researchers suggest that any aliens would have originated back when Venus was a very different planet from [the utter hellscape](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-venus-rover-exploring-hell>) that we know it as today. The work is all speculative, but it could make sense of last week's unusual discovery — or even help guide future attempts to find extraterrestrials.

## Pick Your Poison

Because Venus has such famously harsh conditions, ranging from furnace-like temperature to toxic clouds that rain down sulfuric acid, scientists have [previously speculated](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/mit-life-thrive-clouds-venus>) that any Venusian life would likely float above all the dangers in upper levels of the atmosphere.

But it's difficult to imagine life *beginning* in the clouds, the UNSW duo argues. Rather, they cite models that Venus used to be more Earthlike, with a milder climate and liquid water on the surface, to argue that life may have originated during a gentler era and found a way to adapt to a harsher reality.

## Just Spitballing

Otherwise, they suggest that life on Venus could, if it exists, actually be our distant cousins.

If a meteorite had the *exact* right course, it could have smacked into Earth and sent some microbe-covered debris out into space where it eventually ended up on Venus or in its atmosphere — a hypothesis about the origin of life [known as panspermia](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-bacteria-could-survive-trip-to-mars-on-outside-of-spacecraft>).

**READ MORE:** [If there is life on Venus, how could it have got there? Origin of life experts explain](<https://theconversation.com/if-there-is-life-on-venus-how-could-it-have-got-there-origin-of-life-experts-explain-146407>) \[*The Conversation*\]

**More on Venus:** *[Breaking: Researchers Discover Signs of Life on Venus](<https://futurism.com/signs-of-life-venus-phosphine>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)