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Call for questions: VENUS (Patreon)

Published:
2025-12-09 21:19:09
Imported:
2026-06

Content

This week I'm interviewing a global geologist who focuses on the evolution of Earth's sister planet, Venus. She specifically studies "crustal plateau formation, deformation belt formation, coronae evolution, circular low formation, lowland processes, Artemis superplume development, the formation of Ishtar Terra, tessera-terrain evolution, and mechanisms of heat global transfer." What questions do you have about planet Venus?

Deadline: Thursday, December 11 at 5pm PST

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Comments

Arami Farias

In what ways is Venus similar/different to earth?

Arami Farias

What's special about Venus' magnetic field?

MeganTheLibrarian765

Where did the whole “men are from Mars, women are from Venus” thing start?

redheadedscientist

I expect this will be a popular question, but possibilities of life on Venus? I remember hearing about "signs of life" detected in the atmosphere a few years ago but iirc that was controversial.

Chelsea Wilck

Need to know if they are aware of Venus by Lady Gaga and the fact that it sends every gay person into a frenzy

RJ Doidge

Yes, this! I know it’s likely a little tongue in cheek but I have also wondered if that had any traditional thoughts for these specific planets

Lizzy Martinez

What is something that you identify is not well known in mainstream media about Venus that would be beneficial for us humas on Earth to know?

Joel Henderson

What can studying this hot sticky planet tell us about life on Earth, its past or its future?

Amanda

Do you love or hate Ray Bradbury's short stories about Venus? What pop culture item gets Venus right?

bug in a rug

OKAY so I heard that it's scientifically possible that there could be life in the atmosphere of venus 😱 IS THIS REAL?! Can you please talk about what we know about potential life in that hellscape?!

samwambam

How did venus come to be assoctiated with women?

MeganTheLibrarian765

I wonder what planets are set aside for our LGBTQ+ friends ;p

eddiektd

why is she going the opposite direction ??? also,, what’s up with the volcanoes??

Anna Wolf

Oh my god THRILLING! I got this notification and my ADHD said screw work i have questions NOW. Why is Venus so smooth? Why has she not been impacted by meteors? What causes her to get so windy? and how hot is she actually? Does Venus have gravity? how comparable is it to earth’s gravitational field? (Anna pronounced like Fauna)

Orion McCullough

What is your favorite aspect of the Soviet Venera program?

killian senpai

I second this!! Anaerobic life perhaps?

Wandering Wyatt

Why is it called Earth’s sister planet?

margherita like the pizza

is there an actual reason for the name of the carnivorous plant "venus flytrap"?

Jimmy Jones

IS IT POSSIBLE TO LIVE IN FLOATING CITIES IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE VENUS?? I've heard the thick atmosphere on Venus is much nicer higher up than on the surface. Not sure about logistics.

Esohn

If Venus was located where Earth or Mars is in the solar system, would it be habitable?

Rob H.

Also came in to ask about the possibility of microscopic life forms.

Jona

FTQA - Does Venus have plate tectonics like Earth or are some other large scale geological processes happening? What timescale on such movements are we talking about? Also - her atmosphere seems quite corrosive and harsh, are there any plans for more and possibly more durable probes to visit our hot ass neighbor? What is the thing that geologists would be most interested in - regarding Venus. Are there plans and ways to bring back some geological samples from the surface of Venus?

Arami Farias

Just, what? huh? what are all these really cool sounding things mentioned here?

Arami Farias

Is it true that there's an extreme greenhouse effect on Venus? is there a lot more CO2 on the atmosphere there?

New Leaf Old Roots

Omg please talk about the transit of Venus! As the primary motivation behind Captain Cook's voyage to Tahiti in 1769. Why? What did they hope to find out? how did their learnings change the world view at the time and how have those views changed within your feild of study? 🤩

Allison D

Maybe it will show up as flim flam, but I also want to know an expert's thoughts on this ridiculous saying!

Spicy Native

What's the prospect of life that is based in the upper atmosphere? Does Venus have a spinning core and if not, does that mean it doesn't have tectonic plates? Are tectonic plates rare on other planets? 🌟

Arami Farias

what is your opinion on terraforming?

Adam Foote

What would it take for a spacecraft/probe to survive on Venus for more than about 20 minutes?

Adam Foote

Related to my other question: First, can you go into a little bit of why it's so extremely difficult to even get a craft to Venus's orbit in the first place? Second, any chance we could make a probe to fly by Venus, scoop up some atmosphere, and scoot back to Earth?

Chuck Meriam

What are the leading theories to the different rotational direction that Venus has?

Michael Williams

Can we talk about HAVOC. Will my kid grow up to be a Venusian cloud explorer or is it all flim flam?

Brittney Corrigan

I am obsessed with Venus's quasi-moon, Zoozve. Please, please, please ask about Zoozve and if the ologist has any new information about it since it was officially named in 2024.

e-rennebee

i know this is about the planet but there is an amazing woman named madeline white in ottawa whose doctoral research is on the origins of the goddess venus in roman religion and its ties to culture and community interaction. literally like two people have studied venus specifically and both have the surname white. she’s a wealth of knowledge of the planets’ namesake!!!! lotta important flim flam about our gal venus from what she tells me!! especially in women’s history!!

e-rennebee

why have we gendered the planets

Agegamon

Venusian volcanoes? What's up? How are there so many and why can they all be so frigging big? Are they "normal" volcano-ey in nature, are they like Yellowstone cauldera volcanoes, or something else completely?? So awesome (although I guess I'm glad I don't live there!)

Katie Sharp

Every billionaire with a rocket is trying to get to Mars, or investigate Jupiter's moons, but I feel like we hear very little about Venus. As the only planet in our system named for a woman, is Venus really under researched compared to the other planets and this is just further evidence of misogyny in science, or is there research happening that just doesn't filter down to us plebs because Elon hasn't taken a swing at her yet

Empress of Smallwood

Why is it called Venus? Is it considered sexier than the other planets for some reason?

Rebecca Morrison

From my kiddo (Violet): why does it spin the opposite direction of Earth?

8 oz Shrimp Bin

Hi, this is my first time asking a question. I’m curious about your thoughts on the possibility of life forming on Venus, or perhaps already existing there, especially in the form of single-celled organisms.

Ricky G!

First time question asker, long time listener :) how did Venus come to be and why should we be interested in learning more about it? It’s definitely a planet I don’t hear much about!

Cyntia B

Do most depictions we see of venus reflect its true color?

Lily

Was Venus, Planet of Love, actually destroyed by Global Warming like Mitski sings in Nobody? Like did it have an atmosphere in the past like Mars/was once “ habitable” or will it have a chance to be habitable once our sun gets cooler?

mish the fish

every question i have about venus is an astrology question 😂😂

GhoulNextDoor

What would it be like to walk around and spend a day exploring if we could “beam me up Scotty” onto Venus? (Majorly speculative but I’d like to know what the Ologist would imagine with their informed imagination)

Megan Lundy

If you could plan a mission to Venus what would your science goals be? Thoughts on the Soviet missions to Venus? Did you know that glories have been captured by orbiting satellites around Venus making it the second planet where atmospheric optical phenomena have been captured on camera?

Arami Farias

is volcanism in Venus similar to volcanism on Earth?

Arami Farias

Can you talk a bit about Venera 9 & 10, and the Magellan mission?

Arami Farias

Will I get banned for asking too many questions?

Lee Wang

I've heard people say that Venus is a better candidate for a human colony than Mars would be, as long as we build a habitat above Venus's clouds. Leaving off the feasibility of getting people and materials there, how would we even manage a permanent aerial base? I assume that this is pure pie-in-the-sky science fiction at this point.

Arami Farias

why is Venus so slow when it comes to rotational speed?

Megan Moss

Can we send Elon Musk to live on Venus, or would that be mean to Venus?

Arami Farias

I learned this term bit in English at first so I was happy to ler now the English translation. What are "pancake domes"?

Arami Farias

Is there no plate tectonics on Venus? is that an Earth specific thing?

Scott LaForce

What’s the deal with the gender assignment of planets, and in particular the feminization of Venus?

Jess Bowker

So I asked my astrophysicist-in-grad-school friend since I figured he could come up with smarter questions than I could, and he came up with many. I'll post the others in another comment, but these are the two questions of his that I most want to know more about: Are there any interesting geological processes that could give us false biosignatures on Venus? What has caused Venus to lack a decent magnetic field, and are there theories as to how to improve its strength for possible future habitation (after we deal with the deadly atmosphere via space mirrors or whatever, of course)?

Jess Bowker

How old is Ishtar Terra? What are the Ologist's thoughts on phosphine in the Venusian atmosphere? Did Venus always have a runaway greenhouse effect, or is that new (astronomically speaking)? How stable is the crust of Venus, and what sort of seismic activity does it see? Is seismic activity common or are Venus-quakes relatively rare?

Chris Lipford

Why is it so much spicier than all of the other planets? Something about its placement in the accretion disc?

Samuel Schaar

All I have heard regarding the Venus atmosphere and surface presents an extreme environment, but is there any likelihood it hosts any form of life? I.e. microbes, etc? What are the necessary technologies that would need to be developed in order for human beings to physically explore the planet?

Bobby Baldocchi

Can you talk about the retrograde rotation of Venus, how this happened, and how that affects conditions on the planet?

Chris Lipford

From my understanding, Venus is like the Australia of the solar system, and the danger to humans scales proportionally with size.

Matt Ceccato

What would it take for a manned mission to Venus as opposed to Mars?

Emma Kirkemier

First time question asker! Why is the atmosphere on Venus the way it is? Also, can you please explain what a supercritical fluid is? Thank you!! Love Ologies sm :)

Mr. Pulley

To piggyback off this why is it the only planet in our solar system with such rotation?

Kody Murdock

Ask smart people all the "dumb" questions!

Nicky G

Seconding this amazing question!

Jenna Congdon

If you could stand on the surface of Venus, what would it be like? Things like temperature, smell, what would you see?

Keerat Singh

How is scientific inquiry into Venus unique? What kind of challenges do the clouds provide and how do we get around them?

Kait

Might climate change increase the likelihood of Earth’s atmosphere following in the path of Venus? How does our magnetic field come into play in this scenario?

Kait

Are aspects of this type of geology still hands-on, despite studying a different planet?

Gandalf the shite

In zen buddhism, the story goes that Gautama Buddha sat meditating under the bodhi tree, and got enlightened upon seeing the morning star rise from the horizon. Supposedly, this was Venus? Why is it called the morning star? Do any other religions attach specific meaning to the planet?

Kait

Can the ologist speak to how, if applicable, her expertise shapes her everyday life on Earth? For example, does analyzing the conditions on Venus all day make her want to get outside for a hike in the woods or read a nature poem? Or maybe it’d inspire her to seek out vacations or field sites with extreme conditions? (Sorry if this is too abstract, just curious about interplanetary work life balance!)

Becca

First time question asker! 1: Is there a reasonable chance of finding some form of life on Venus? What form would it likely take? 2: Have we identified planets similar to Venus in other solar systems?

Michael

To me, I guess the big question is: 1) Was it ever inhabitable with atmosphere like ours? 1a) Will we ever be able to find out? And 2) If Venus's atmosphere was not unlike ours at one point, what changed it and how long ago?

Ashley P

First time question asker but dedicated listener here!! I have always wondered if the gas clouds on Venus act like clouds on earth with weather and such, does it rain chemicals there like it does water here? Also, why does Venus look yellow? Is it the cloud content or the surface or both?? Thank you :)

Holly Brooks

First Time Question Asker Long Long Long Time Listener. Is it possible that dude to the conditions on Venus that is would have different minerals and crystals thst we don't have om earth?

Autumn Knol

When/how did we discover Venus? Did it ever have any other names? Like I think Uranus was "George" for awhile....

Stephanie Mckechnie

First Time Question Asker: In astrology Venus rules love, beauty, pleasure, desire. It's named after the goddess of love, and I wonder, is there something inherently sexy about the planet Venus? Can the ologist muse on why it has these designations and associations?

Ettegoom

So... years ago, I can't remember when, but I read this random story where there was life on Venus, but it was like... sentient clouds or something... My questions are: 1. is there any possibility of life on Venus? and 2: if there was, what adaptations would it need to survive the gravity and heat? I vaguely feel like Venus is more squashy (I'm not sure what the words are for having more intense gravity situation) than Earth? and 3: how long could an earthling survive on Venus?

Noasusan

Okay, so naming planets... I love Greek/Roman mythology, but how did they choose them? Whose idea was it in the first place? Also who was like, this planet is just sooo romantic and sexy let's name it after the love goddess? Does it have anything to do with color?

Arella Zarina

Ooooo this is so so SO cool!! My first question is how does Venus's atmosphere renew itself? I heard it's one of the big mysteries about it, could the ologist explain why this is important and interesting and what could be the answer? My second question is whyyyyy the heck does it spin the other direction?! What causes us to spin one way and Venus the other? And how long is a day in proportion to a year since it spins so slow but is closer than us to the Sun. Third question: are there any more cool facts that make Venus Earth's "evil twin" other than the deadly gasses, similar size and opposite spinning direction? And lastly, how on earth did the Ologist get such a friggin cool job?! Like Venus! Specifically Venus! So awesome! And what are the convos like in dinner parties :D

Keerat Singh

I noticed the geologist studies a landmass called Ishtar Terra, which inspired some googling, and I noted many geological regions on Venus are named after love goddesses. Who gets to decide these sorts of themes?

Keerat Singh

Why don't other planets have plate tectonics? How do geological features form without it?

Keerat Singh

Meteors can be identified by unique crystal patterns in iron that can only form in the slow cooling of space. Are there any similar unique attributes that can identify rocks from Venus?

Kaja Mesarič

How did Venus get involved in the whole Men are from Mars, women are from Venus shenanigans, what’s that all about?

Nick Ryder

The theory that Venus was once habitable but has some signs of what we would call global warming: fact or flim flam?

Oberonion

I think I remember learning once that due to the pressure in it's atmosphere, the surface air of venus is a supercritical fluid - do we have any ideas/thoughts about how this might affect the geology in ways we don't see on earth?

Caro Young

Will we ever make it Venus? And if so will we find signs of life there?

Caro Young

What is the atmosphere like on Venus and how has this changed? Was it once habitable?

Caro Young

Does Venus have any moons?

Caro Young

I once heard Venus has a retrograde rotation, what is up with that?

Caro Young

Would Venus be a better planet than Mars to colonise despite the heat?

Umaymah

Yeah I was gonna ask that too. Namely, why has Venus been associated with women/femininity?

Ennifer Jelly Tot

I've heard that Venus was once a blue planet like earth? Is that true, and if it is, what caused its atmosphere to get all fucked up? 😅

Umaymah

Should "I'm your Venus" start playing at any point during the episode, I shan't be disappointed 🤭

Meagan Walker

Have we sent any equipment to the surface of Venus?

Donald Merritt

I was lucky enough to work on science operations for the Magellan and Venus Express missions. We were all excited to see the tesserae features on the surface during Magellan, and no one had an explanation for it at the time. Since Venus Express didn't image the surface, they never came up in discussions. What is the thinking about the cause of the tesserae regions?

Kim

Humanity sent so many probes to Venus especially the Soviets during the Venera programme. In your opinion did the high frequency return sufficiently diverse data to make this a smart strategy?

crystal

A while back I heard about some possibly organic molecules colloquially referred to as "germ farts." Did anything come of that or can we just not be sure until we send some sort of probe/rover (which is probably impossible at least currently)?

e-rennebee

what effect(s) does venus have on earth? what would we notice if it suddenly disappeared?

Storm

why does venus represent love in astrology

Storm

would venus ever be considered for space travel and colonisation like mars is? why? why not?

Storm

good question

Storm

venus is known as the evening star, why is it so bright in the evening like that and why cant we see any other planets like that?

Bahdi_Phat

Why did it take so long for Venus' surface to form? 300-400 million years compared to Earth's 100 million years?

Clara Nungässer

How does the geology of Venus help us understand the Earth's geology ? Or vice versa ?

Kevin Tiemeyer

Why did the USSR continue to double down so many times after discovering that the planet was not what they had originally hoped? Was there some other benefit or resource they were hoping to find?

ZenFrog

So many questions! First, the surface temperature and pressure make rock a little mushy, like it would be a some depth—what depth would that be exactly?— in Earth's crust. How do these different physical properties of crust change how plate tectonics might work on Venus? Could there even BE subduction?

ZenFrog

What is plate tectonics like on Venus? Similar to Earth? Different from Earth? Similar to Mars? Different from Mars?

ZenFrog

Can you talk a little bit about planetary evolution? Venus is commonly called Earth's sibling because they are similar in size, but proximity to the Sun sent Venus on a different trajectory. Can you talk a bit about the pathway to the hellscape that Venus is today.

ZenFrog

Whatever came of the phosphine observation in 2020? Old news? Debunked? Worth following up? Woopsy?

ZenFrog

If you could have one question about Venus definitively answered, what would it be?

Ara Victor

Was Mitski right? Did Venus use to be more habitable, only to change from global warming? Can we look to it to predict the future of our own planet?

poisonedcheerios

Why can we see venus in the night sky? What makes it "brighter" than the other planets in our solar system?

poisonedcheerios

What do we know about venus' formation? Did it form before or after earth?

protect_trans_lives

if you had to give someone a Venus elevator pitch of your favorite thing about the planet what would you say?

Lauren Harter

How do you feel about the name Venus? If you could rename Venus, what would you call it?

Julia Reichelt

Is it true that there could be the right conditions for life high up in Venus' atmosphere? If yes, then how?

CurtisDawg

Do you ever get jealous that Mars seems to garner all of the attention and Venus is like "oh yeah... Venus... that other planet..."?

Ash

If you could create the perfect space creature to live on Venus, what would it be like? What kind of food would it eat? Would it eat food? Would it have limbs? Would it be cute?

Milenka K.

Hi, long time listener and first time question asker! Is there any truth to the idea that Venus was once habitable? Could it ever become habitable in the distant future?

Paul Bartos

Is Venus a cautionary tale for Earth (i.e., global warming, etc.)? (BTW, Alie... Love your podcast. It's so sciency, yet so approachable.)

The Stoned Ape

The retrograde spin is likely the result of an impact, the volcanic activity and oppressive atmosphere, maybe the result of a significantly more molten core than we know. Could Venus be Thea?

The Stoned Ape

Do you find there is more interest in Venus from an astrological perspective instead of an astronomical one? Do you find ways to work science into astrology?

Milan Ilnyckyj

Sara Seager's Venus Life Finder missions are very exciting. What does your Ologist think about the prospects for life in the clouds - and about robotic exploration of the planet?

Milan Ilnyckyj

Does Venus teach us anything about finding rocky exoplanets? Or about how to characterize planets based on their atmospheric absorption spectra?

Papa Curry Sauce

Hi Alie! Long time listener. Can you ask our guest what misconceptions about Venus drive them absolutely bonkers?

Maxwell Porterfield

Could a trip to Venus for astronauts ever be possible? Could they only orbit the planet in a space station?

Andrew McVay

How has telescope imaging changed to improve the understanding of Venus over the last 30 years?

Andrew McVay

What’s the most recent and most significant discovery about Venus?

Organic Free-Range Lily

1. Historically, why did people imagine intelligent life on Mars but not on Venus? 2. Is there any particular reason ancient people associated Venus with love? 3. The surface of Venus is squishy hellscape, but is it feasible to imagine floating city platforms in Venutian atmosphere? They'd need lots of redundancies to avoid the Big Squish, but they'd still work, right?

Ann Over

Venus is so unique in terms of pressure and atmospheric composition. Is there any way to test lander spacecraft here on Earth to make sure they can survive on Venus?

Marc Rubin

I've read that the reason why the surface of Venus has such crushing atmospheric pressure and extreme temperatures (hot enough to melt lead) is caused by a runaway greenhouse effect from CO2. How much more CO2 does the atmosphere of Venus have compared to Earth? How long do we have before Earth becomes a hot, crushing hellscape like Venus? Also, please do an episode on veterinary gerontology with my lovely wife, Dr Ashley Portmann of Home Together Vet! I know Gremmy (sp?) would love to learn more about how vets like Ashley help our older pets make the most of their golden years.. https://www.instagram.com/p/CtweGRZuZeW/?igsh=MWtwNzc2NGkwMXIxeg==

Avyously

I’ve heard somewhere that Venus may have been more earthlike in its past, with liquid water and a thinner atmosphere. Is that accurate and if so, what caused the extreme divergence? Is it just more geologic activity on Venus? Proximity to the sun/sun’s gravity? Just wild to contemplate how two planets of similar size and gravity and location in solar system are so different. Also why no moons orbiting Venus and mercury? Is it random chance? Something to do with being closer to the sun? Thank you!

Milo Lis

Thoughts on All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury?

Carlos Ariza

How realistic is it that we could have cloud cities in the Venusian atmosphere?

Thistle Boosinger

Follow up question: Thoughts on "The Long Rain" by Ray Bradbury?

Thistle Boosinger

What can you tell us about the rotation of Venus; why do you suppose that Venus' rotation is opposite the other planets in our solar system, and do you think it will ever stall out and start spinning the other way, or slow down even, or is it perfectly content with the way it's moving now? What's the closest evidence we have for life on Venus during the time it was theoretically habitable? Does Venus' gravitational pull do anything to help us out on Earth? -Kat and Thistle

Kelly Shaver

I once read that Venus’s lower atmosphere is pressurized that it became a supercritical fluid. Please explain!

Kelly Shaver

If Venus is the result of a runaway greenhouse gas effect, what can we learn from it about Earth’s potential future?

Kelly Shaver

What do we know about Rocket Lab and MIT’s Venus Life Finder mission? Also are we concerned about private labs getting all up on extraterrestrial bodies? I feel like we should be concerned.

Kelly Shaver

Why are transits of Venus so rare and why are they so important?

Amy

When I was in 2nd grade I was supposed to play Venus in our school play but the show got canceled (can't remember why) and I never got to say my lines! So here goes: "I am Venus. Even though I'm not the closest planet to the sun, I am the hottest. The carbon dioxide and water vapor in my air and trap the heat from the sun." Was 2nd grade me telling facts? Thank you!

Fernando López Haro

Hi Alie! Really excited about a Venus episode!! What is the current status of the claims on phosphene as a potential biomarker? Have there been any studies confirming or debunking that observation? Are there any other odd signals in the spectrum of the Venusian atmosphere?

Fernando López Haro

Given that Venus is roughly the same size as the Earth, does Venus have a similar iron-rich core? How strong is Venus' magnetic field compared to our home planet?

Michelle Garthe

What would happen if you were skydiving on Venus?

Amanda Lask

Since Venus is a similar size and has roughly the same composition, what can we learn about the planet and relate it to the climate crisis??

Morpheme, The Merrier

First time question asker long time listener. Does Venus most likely smell like farts?

Sweet Chili

Why does it spin the other way? Is it part of the UK?

Ted Vician

Does Venus have tectonic activity like Earth? Based on the description in the call for questions, it sounds like yes. If so, what are some of the features of Venusian tectonics? Related, does the high pressure caustic atmosphere wear down surface features rapidly?

Umaymah

But why was the name of the Goddess Venus chosen for the planet?

ClarrBarr

How well do we understand the formation of Venus? Like earth it thought there was a giant collision right? Was something about this collision believed to play a role in the composition?

Sleepy John

Oxygen on Earth became available because photosynthetic bacteria started breaking down CO2 in planetary amounts. This is a popular idea for terraforming Venus in science fiction. If oxygen could be produced, what would be the effect on the greenhouse effect? On the geology of the surface? Or would it just get bound up in sulfates?

Milan Ilnyckyj

I wonder specifically about planetary protection with private spaceflight, both in terms of contaminating other celestial bodies with Earth life or (much less likely) bringing back something that can survive here

emily burns

please talk about the VOCs found in venus’ atmosphere!

Keely Chavez

Are thermal tides weaker on the dark side? (asking for my wife because she's the space nerd).