Home

Clara Sousa-Silva / Phosphine Biosignature

·

Clara Sousa-Silva / Phosphine Biosignature

The discovery of phosphine gas on Venus is exciting. The molecule itself is a stinky, highly flammable toxin. Hear how a noxious gas become a biomarker for extraterrestrial life.

Click above to listen to Part 1 of Life on Venus? featuring Clara Sousa-Silva, Research scientist in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. She and Sara Seager co-authored a paper in January 2020 titled, “Phosphine as a Biosignature Gas in Exoplanet Atmospheres”

Life on Venus?:
Part 1: Clara Sousa-Silva / Phosphine Biosignature
Part 2: Sara Seager / Venusian Phosphine
Part 3: Nathalie Cabrol / Wait and See
Part 4: David Grinspoon / Life on Venus

Podcast also available on PocketCasts, SoundCloud, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and RSS.

2026 Webby Award Nominee
for our three part series on the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

Big Picture Science is an immersive radio show and podcast that reveals the unexpected connections in science.

Our Skeptic Check episodes take a critical look at extraordinary science claims and pseudoscience.

Don’t settle for a science snapshot. Get the big picture. 

Hosted By

Molly Bentley Executive Producer and Co-Host, Big Picture Science  

Seth Shostak Producer and Co-Host, Big Picture Science
Senior Astronomer, SETI Institute

Latest episodes