Hello Venus! Anyone out there?

This week on The Sound Kitchen, you'll hear the answer to the question about the phosphine gas in the clouds above Venus. There's “On This Day”, a fine example of how nutty Americans are, great music, and of course, the new quiz question. Just click on the “Audio” arrow above and enjoy!

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday – here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll hear the winners' names announced and the week's quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you've grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.

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To join the RFI Listeners Club, just write to me at [email protected] and tell me you want to join, and I'll send you a membership number. It's that easy. When you win a Sound Kitchen quiz as an RFI Listeners Club member, you receive a premium prize.

Welcome to our new RFI Listeners Club member: Rakesh Seshan, from Chennai in Tamil Nadu state, India.

So glad you have joined us!
You too can be a member of the RFI Listeners Club – just write to me at [email protected] and tell me you want to join, and I'll send you a membership number. It's that easy. When you win a Sound Kitchen quiz as an RFI Listeners Club member, you receive a premium prize.

This week's quiz: On 26 September, I asked you a question about Venus – the planet, not the goddess. On 14 September, scientists announced they had discovered a gas known as phosphine in the clouds above Venus. It's the first time the rare molecule has been found on a rocky planet other than Earth – so does that point to extraterrestrial life?

The answer was in our article “Gas on Venus ignites hope of answering: Is anybody out there?” – which aside from the good information, is a pretty good title! Anyway, my question to you was: how and where did the scientists discover the phosphine?

The answer is: To directly quote our article: “To collect the data, the astronomers used telescopes in Hawaii and Chile's Atacama Desert to observe Venus' upper cloud levels, around 60 kilometres from the surface, where temperatures are around 20-30 degrees Celsius.”  Venus is one “hot babe” - both the goddess and the planet. The planet can reach up to 400 degrees Celsius in the daytime – that's hot enough to melt lead! I think the planet Venus is very-well named: Venus is the Roman name for the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite.

The winners are: Jobayada Aktar Jai, a member of the Nilshagor RFI Fan Club in Nilphamari, Bangladesh, and two winners from India, both members of the RFI Listeners Club: Radhakrishna Pillai N from Kerala State and Selvaraj from Tamilnadu. From Windhoek, Namibia, there's Mervin Kensington, and last but not least, Kashif Khalil from Faisalabad, Pakistan.

Congratulations winners!
Here's the music you heard on this week's program: “Soy Marco” by Alberto Iglesias, music written for the film Hable con Ella; “Dream a little dream of me” by Fabian Andre, Wilbur Schwandt, and Gus Kahn, sung by Mama Cass; “Venus” from The Planets by Gustav Holst, performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and “Igualita que tu” performed by Monte Adentro.

Do you have a musical request? Send it to [email protected]

This week's question ... You'll have to listen to the show to participate. You have until 16 November to enter this week's quiz; the winners will be announced on the 21 November podcast. When you enter, be sure you send your postal address in with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:
[email protected]
or
Susan Owensby
RFI – The Sound Kitchen
80, rue Camille Desmoulins
92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux
France
or
By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country's international access code, or “ + ”, then 33 6 31 12 96 82. Don't forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

To find out how you can win a special Sound Kitchen prize, click here

To find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or to form your own official RFI Club, click here