From the department of ledes that inspire a double-take:
Other than the hellish heat, a crushing carbon dioxide atmosphere and corrosive clouds of sulfuric acid, Venus is a lot like Earth, scientists said yesterday.
In an astronomical sense they’re right. Water oceans, Earth-like weather and an atmosphere that could theoretically support life aren’t that common in the universe, at least as far as we know today. Venus has since heated up a notch and Mars has cooled down, but after dialing back time a few billion years that makes three different planets in our solar system that could have sheltered the evolution of life*, plus one moon if you count Europa. Space feels less lonely these days.
(*) …or I suppose where God could have blinked into existence cavemen who didn’t immediately freeze solid or catch fire.