Could acid-neutralising life-forms make habitable pockets in Venus’ clouds?

Venus from Mariner 10 Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech A new study shows it's theoretically possible. The hypothesis could be tested soon with proposed Venus-bound missions. If life is there, how does it propagate in an environment as dry as the clouds of Venus? Paul Rimmer It's hard to imagine a more inhospitable world than our closest planetary neighbour. With an atmosphere thick with carbon dioxide, and a surface hot enough to melt lead, Venus is a scorched and suffocating wasteland where life as we know it could not survive. The planet's clouds are similarly hostile, blanketing the planet in droplets of sulphuric acid caustic enough to burn a hole through human skin. And yet, a new study , published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , supports the long-held theory that, if life exists, it might make a home in Venus' clouds. The study's authors, from MIT, Cardiff University, and the University of Cambridge, have identified a chemical pathway by which life could neutralise Venus' acidic environment, creating a self-sustaining, habitable pocket in the clouds.