As the exciting news of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus turns into a point of contention in the astronomy world, we caught up with the study’s lead scientist Professor Jane Greaves for the inside track. In this interview we discuss:

• Getting time on a range of professional telescopes time for a risky hypothesis
• How life could survive in the extreme environment of Venus’ highly acidic atmosphere
• Floating graphite balloons in Venus’ atmosphere
• Scientific challenges to this discovery being helpful rather than unwanted
• Blinding NASA pilots in the name of science