Gas spotted in Venus’s clouds could be a sign of alien life

TikTok's fate in the US is set to be decided

Sponsored by Inference Solutions The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology 09.15.20 Good morning! Today: gas spotted in Venus's clouds could be a sign of life, and decision day for TikTok in the US. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. Gas spotted in Venus’s clouds could be a sign of alien life   A new possibility: Are there aliens on Venus? Amazingly, unbelievably, the prospect is no longer totally unimaginable. A new paper published in Nature Astronomy reveals that Venus’s clouds contain traces of phosphine, a gas that generally indicates the presence of life here on Earth. Erm, what? On Earth, phosphine is primarily produced naturally by microbes in oxygen-poor ecosystems. In the absence of life you need exceptionally high temperatures and large amounts of energy to make phosphine (like the conditions found deep inside giant planets like Jupiter). The researchers have so far ruled out any known natural routes for phosphine production on Venus, including lightning, volcanism, or meteoritic delivery.  So where’s the phosphine coming from? It could be some kind of “exotic chemistry” not seen on Earth, or—and this is where it gets really exciting—some hardy form of life. MIT astronomer Sara Seager and some of the other coauthors of this new study recently published a paper about a possible life cycle on Venus that could sustain organisms in clouds. They suggest that life on Venus could exist in droplets at high altitudes that evaporate and leave dried-up spores hanging in the atmosphere. These spores could rise back up in growing droplets in the cloud layer, and rehydrate to continue their life cycle. So when will we know for sure? Unsurprisingly, scientists are excited. But unfortunately, there are no new missions to Venus slated for the future. NASA is currently debating two proposals—both orbiters that could help in this sort of investigation. The new findings could help support the case to move forward with either or both of them. Read the full story. —Neel V. Patel We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + An incredible picture of Andromeda.   + This pixel art is so cool.   + A celebration of snacks, in all their varied glory.    + Amazing 3D motion designs.   + If you’re in New York state, the Corning Museum of Glass has just reopened and it looks very fun.    + One man’s description of what it’s like to live off the land—no running water, no electricity, nothing.  Sponsor Message We need to talk about conversational AI Businesses that add conversational AI to their self-service experience are reporting quantifiable gains in customer satisfaction and cost savings. More companies than ever before are cashing in on these benefits now that Google, Amazon, and other API providers have moved natural language processing into the cloud. It’s the perfect time for your business to join the conversation—and Inference Solutions has a guide to the use cases that can drive quick ROI wins.  Learn more here. The top ten must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Oracle’s TikTok deal achieves nothing Apart from making Oracle even richer. (The Verge)   + How Oracle became the leading suitor. (WSJ $)   + TikTok has been forced to try to find a middle ground between the US and China. (NYT $)    + It’s dangling 20,000 new jobs and a new US headquarters to try to win over Trump. (WP $)   + Senator Josh Hawley says the US should reject the compromise. (The Verge)   + TikTok says it now has over 100 million users in Europe. (TechCrunch)   + YouTube has launched a TikTok rival in India, where the app is banned. (BBC)  2 Latinos in Florida are being bombarded with disinformation about Biden And polling suggests it’s having an effect. (Politico)   + A bug in Biden’s app gave anyone access to millions of voter files. (TechCrunch)   + A group of former Facebook employees hope to turn Trump’s playbook against him. (Wired $)  3 Hate speech on Facebook risks fomenting genocide in Ethiopia  This looks like a nightmarish repeat of the mistakes it made in Myanmar four years ago. (Vice)   + A fired data scientist says Facebook ignores political manipulation by governments around the world. (Buzzfeed)  4 There’s growing evidence children spread the coronavirus A CDC study looked at three outbreaks at childcare facilities in Utah where kids went on to infect members of their household. (Axios)   + Should a covid-19 vaccine be mandatory for children? (Gizmodo)   + Some of the data from Russia’s coronavirus vaccine trial is questionable. (Nature)   + A new antibody treatment is being tested on covid-19 patients in the UK. (BBC)   + We need to study covid “long-haulers.” (Nature)   + People with lingering symptoms are organizing online to study themselves. (TR)  5 European countries are testing linking up their contact tracing apps This could make it easier for people to travel abroad. (Reuters)   6 Climate change is fueling a new kind of despair on the US West Coast   The realization that it is the new normal—and the grief that comes with that. (Wired)    + In defense of California. (TR)  7 The gentle escapism of “Sayonara Wild Hearts”  Part game, part interactive music video. (NPR)   8 Facebook and Google say they’re going carbon neutral These announcements are all the rage—but the devil is in the detail. (The Guardian)   9 It’s an exciting time to be an astronaut 👩‍🚀 But NASA’s selection process for who gets to fly where is still shrouded in mystery. (WP $)   10 The nature selfie has been all the rage this summer ⛰️ 🤳 As with so much on Instagram, it’s fundamentally still all about showing off. (Mel)   + How to use your phone less. (Gizmodo) Join us online at EmTech MIT as we reset, rethink, and rebuild. This year, we're focusing on emerging technologies and trends that you can leverage to help you lead with innovation. You'll get actionable insights from experts at Facebook, Google, Salesforce, Twitter and other leading organizations. Register now. Take a stand “We've been working on trying to rebuild witchcraft's image and make it seem less ludicrous. Then these 'fake witches' come along and take us 10 steps backwards. It's wrong and they shouldn't be encouraged.” —An anonymous “older witch” tells CNET she doesn’t approve of members of the witching community posting on TikTok. Top image credit: NASA Please send snacks to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up for free From prevention to response Join us online | December 2-3, 2020 *View this in a browser You received this newsletter because you subscribed with your email address *Edit email preferences   |   *Unsubscribe from all emails Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142 Subscription Information This email was sent to Webmaster220 Bible Study Blog  *the blog owner has deleted the hyperlink intentionally