The Chernobyl exclusion zone may be off-limits to humans, but ever since the Unit Four reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded nearly 40 years ago, other forms of life have not only moved in but survived, adapted, and appeared to thrive.

“That fungus is called Cladosporium sphaerospermum, and some scientists think its dark pigment – melanin – may allow it to harness ionizing radiation through a process similar to the way plants harness light for photosynthesis. This proposed mechanism is even referred to as radiosynthesis.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/39553283 https://libretechni.ca/post/483480

  • Deconceptualist@leminal.spaceEnglish
    24·
    2 days ago

    Well if it just evolved this ability that suggests it found a unique niche. But it probably hasn’t optimized this, since it doesn’t have any pressure to compete against other organisms for the radiation source.

    But the good news is that we could selectively breed the fungus, or even generically engineer it (once the genes are isolated) to maximize the ability much faster.

    I don’t know how useful it would be for site cleanup but it might at least become good insulation (like the idea of space station shielding mentioned in the article).

    • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
      1·
      20 hours ago

      One potentially useful thing that they could be used for is finding radioactive contamination. Presumably it grows best at higher radiation, so instead searching with ginger Geiger counters for radioactive contaminants you could spread this stuff out over the environment, then just look for where it is growing a while later. Engineer it to be bright orange or something.

    • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.todayEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      In the future, instead of shooting up shiny silver rockets, we’ll be firing up rockets covered in gross mold.

    • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      We could breed it to incorporate radioactive particles to make it independently self-sustaining