The Abode of Life
Many years ago, Sir Arthur C. Clarke wrote "A Meeting with Medusa", a story speculating about the possibility of life floating in the clouds of Jupiter. Although his images of giant yet fragile balloon-creatures were vivid, they seemed far-fetched. How could such a creature possibly exist in such an extreme environment?
Recently, scientists have discovered evidence of water in the clouds of Jupiter's Red Spot. There is even speculation that water vapor, and possibly liquid water and water ice, may play a major role in Jupiter's complex weather systems. So it is becoming increasingly plausible that life could have evolved in the Jovian atmosphere, although whether it could have gone beyond the microbial level and evolved large multicellular organisms is another question altogether.