An international team of astronomers from Cardiff University, UK, on Monday sent ripples through the global scientific community after they detected the presence of a chemical called phosphine in the harshly inhospitable atmosphere of Venus. The finding, if confirmed by other telescopic observations could well indicate the presence of life on a planet that has often been overlooked for signs of extraterrestrial life in the recent past.

On Earth, phosphine is produced by bacteria in oxygen-deficient environments. Hence, it's detection on Venus can potentially mean that something 'alive' is the only possible explanation for being the source of the phosphine.