Carl Sagan predicted life on Venus in 1967. We may be close to proving him right.

Millions of room morons reacted with joy Monday to a study demo the atmosphere of Venus contains phosphine, a chemical byproduct of biological life. But none would have been more stimulated or less surprised by the discovery than the late, great Carl Sagan — who said this day might come more than 50 years ago.

Now best recollected as the presenter of the most-viewed-ever PBS series Cosmos, the author of the book behind the movie Contact, and the person who introduced golden disks of Earth music on NASA’s Voyager assignments, Sagan actually got his start studying our closest two planets. He became an astronomer after being inspired as a kid by Edgar Rice Burroughs’ space myths, set on Mars and Venus. Read more …

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