Venus, the closest planet to Earth, has an atmosphere similar to ours, but much more hot and full of corrosive sulfuric acid.
Researchers in England announced last week that powerful space telescopes revealed new signs of phosphine gas in Venus' atmosphere, a finding that has been fiercely debated in recent years. There's a chance any phosphine gas on Venus could be a sign of life because on Earth, the gas comes from decaying organic material. Scientists are also confident there is no other natural chemical process on Venus that could otherwise produce the gas, said Dave Clements, the lead researcher on the project.
"We are not saying we have found signs of life on Venus," Clements told USA TODAY. "We are on the first step of a staircase at the top of which, if all the steps are passed, something might lead to that."