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It’s not every day that scientists are bewildered by penguin droppings, but after animal droppings were found to contain phosphine – a gas found 38 million kilometers away on Venus – the researchers turned to started scratching his head.
According to The Daily Star, experts now plan to study the lifestyle of gentoo penguins, a species commonly found in the Falkland Islands. It is believed that studying animals can help them spot organisms that exist on other planets.
Dr Dave Clements, of Imperial College London, told the outlet: “We are convinced that the phosphine discovery is real, but we don’t know what makes it.”
Although the discovery left scientists perplexed, Dr Clements said it may well be “defense or signaling against competing bacteria.”
He added, “There are anaerobic bacteria that produce phosphine.
“It is found in the mud of ponds and the guts of badgers and penguin guano.”
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Last year, astronomers found phosphine in the clouds of Venus, which they believe may suggest the presence of life.
At the time, Dr Clements said: ‘It would be great if this detection of phosphine means that we have detected life, but at the moment it’s not a smoking gun – it’s just the clue. ‘an indication of a possibility.
“But if we gather enough evidence in the future to show it does exist, the more pressing question becomes: how similar is it to life on Earth?” Does it also use DNA, which would suggest a common origin of life on Earth and Venus, or is it something completely different?
It precedes the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope by NASA on December 18, which aims to “reveal new and expected discoveries”, as well as “the origins of the universe and our place in it”.
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