If we're looking for life as we don't know it, the best solvent out there may be concentrated sulfuric acid — the stuff that's floating around in the clouds of Venus.

Direct sulfuric acid formation from the gas-phase oxidation of reduced-sulfur compounds. Nature Communications , 2023; 14 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40586-2 Cite This Page : ...

And what you do is you get this sulfuric acid out at the other end. And that sulfuric acid you then collect and then pass around the world. So that causes two problems. One, actually, as you’re ...