The actual publications were far less definitive. The NY times article[0] The astronomers, who reported the finding on Monday in a pair of papers, have not

The actual publications were far less definitive. The NY times article[0] The astronomers, who reported the finding on Monday in a pair of papers, have not collected specimens of Venusian microbes, nor have they snapped any pictures of them. But with powerful telescopes, they have detected a chemical — phosphine — in the thick Venus atmosphere. After much analysis, the scientists assert that something now alive is the only explanation for the chemical’s source. Later in the same article On such worlds, “as far as we can tell, only life can make phosphine,” Dr. Sousa-Silva said. She has long studied the gas, on the theory that finding it being emitted from rocky planets that orbit distant stars could be proof that life exists elsewhere in the Milky Way. The actual publication abstract[1] ...If PH3 ’s presence in Venus’ atmosphere is confirmed, it therefore is highly likely to be the result of a process not previously considered plausible for Venusian conditions. The process could be unknown geochemistry, photochemistry, or even aerial microbial life, given that on Earth phosphine is exclusively associated with anthropogenic and biological sources. Which reads to me like a, "We saw something funny" result. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/science/venus-life-clouds.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/science/venus-life-clouds... [1] https://arxiv.org/pdf/2009.06499.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/2009.06499.pdf