You Should Know About
This Chernobyl Fungus
That Eats Radiation
Popular Mechanics,
by
Caroline Delbert
Original Article
Posted By: StormCnter,
2/7/2020 9:36:01 AM
Scientists have discovered that a longtime fungal resident of the Chernobyl complex could actually “eat” radiation. In an upcoming paper, scientists will share the results of growing the fungus on the International Space Station.
Scientists have known about this fungus, and similar extremophile organisms that can thrive on radiation, since at least 2007. The variety found in Chernobyl “can decompose radioactive material such as the hot graphite in the remains of the Chernobyl reactor,” Nature said in 2007. The fungus grows toward the hottest and most radioactive places, like phototropism but for deadly toxins.
How can this fungus process radiation in this way? Because it has tons of very dark melanin
Reply 1 - Posted by:
kono 2/7/2020 10:12:59 AM (No. 310773)
Awesome. How broad is the spectrum of radiation wavelengths that this stuff eats? (If it eats ALL wavelengths, wouldn't that make it a Black Hole fungus?)
Could that be adapted to eat odors?
5 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
IowaDad 2/7/2020 10:14:23 AM (No. 310775)
Pure faffle. The fungus may be able to convert short-lived radicals to biological energy, but it is no more effective at quenching radiation than your mother's frying pan.
9 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Bur Oak 2/7/2020 10:14:35 AM (No. 310776)
The fungus "eats" something but it doesn't "eat" radiation (alpha, gamma, and beta particles).
9 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
justavoter 2/7/2020 10:22:01 AM (No. 310788)
Nature finds a way to cleans itself.
6 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Plex 2/7/2020 10:57:12 AM (No. 310845)
Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton (1969)
4 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
JunkYardDog 2/7/2020 11:02:53 AM (No. 310852)
Re #5 ....but Andromeda can only exist in a very narrow range of pH. As long as there aren't any colicky babies or sterno-drinking bums around the Sarcophagus we should be alright ;-)
4 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
DVC 2/7/2020 11:04:42 AM (No. 310856)
I saw this yesterday, interesting report.
Not too surprising, really, and pretty neat trick. Any energy source will be exploited by living creatures, this has been shown many times. Ultimately, much of the "radiation", gamma rays are electromagnetic, not unlike light, so somewhat analogous to plants capturing the energy in light to make food for themselves, this fungus captures the energy in radiation to make food for themselves.
Interesting adaptation.
Millions of years ago, when the earth was much more radioactive than it is now, I am sure many different plants were adapted to this.
Radiation triva question: What is the source of the majority of the radiation which the human body is exposed to each day?
Answer: The radioactive isotope potassium40 (K40) which actually is incorporated into your body itself. Millions of years ago, there was a whole lot more K40, so living things had to adapt to this much higher radiation environment. We still irradiate ourselves every day, all day. Keep this in mind when the next "radiation scare" comes up by the ignorant media. The issue is HOW MUCH radiation we get, since we are getting a dose every day from our own body chemicals, which we can do nothing about. Usually these scare stories say something about "radiation has been detected" with the idea that any and all will always be cause for panic. Like any other 'problem item' such as poisons, "dose makes the poison" applies.
What item commonly sets off roadside radiation monitors? A truck load of bananas, because they have a lot of potassium, which means some of that will be the isotompe K40. And they are harmless, yet have "detectable radiation". Don't be frightened be media reports on radiation. Always think "how MUCH?"
7 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
joew9 2/7/2020 11:16:43 AM (No. 310876)
#2, #3 I agree. The fungus can survive in a strong radiation environment but it doesn't make the radiation go away. It just doesn't get killed by it. I wonder how tolerant it is of temperature.
4 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
JackBurton 2/7/2020 11:18:04 AM (No. 310884)
That mushroom (fungus) on your pizza.
Are you eating it or is it... eating you?
4 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
less is more 2/7/2020 11:21:16 AM (No. 310893)
It doesn't eat radiation. It eats small radioactive contaminated particles.
5 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
JackBurton 2/7/2020 11:30:42 AM (No. 310902)
Zebra mussels, an invasive species introduced into the Great Lakes by Baltic freighters, are like all bi-valves. They filter water to find food. In the process, they took a lot of pollutants out of the Great Lakes and sequestered it in their bodies making the water clearer.
You might have heard of a big kerfuffle about dioxin, a toxic product introduced into the great lakes from chemical plants in Michigan.
The Zebra mussels ate it. Sequestered it.
Ain't nature wonderful?
7 people like this.
If you have x particles of a radionuclide, you will have x/2 particles after the half life of that nuclide. No fungus is going to change that. Only time.
3 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
GoodDeal 2/7/2020 12:08:40 PM (No. 310943)
God has a way of keeping his creation clean no matter how bad man dirties it up.
2 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
curious1 2/7/2020 1:41:14 PM (No. 311093)
Last century I attended a Physics conference in DC where one of the theoretical physicists from China introduced the concept of using strange matter to 'consume' or transform radioactive matter into non-radioactive matter. Quite interesting.
1 person likes this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Obviousity 2/7/2020 2:04:43 PM (No. 311120)
Hummmm! Dark Matter. Must be a lot of it out there.
1 person likes this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 2/7/2020 2:22:19 PM (No. 311139)
Next, that radioactive fungus will develop a mouth with lots of pointy little teeth.
2 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 2/7/2020 2:41:24 PM (No. 311165)
Gee, I guess it recently "woke" up and "evolved" that capability!
Aiin't evolution wonderful?
s/o
0 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
red1066 2/7/2020 2:43:35 PM (No. 311167)
Apparently it eats radiation to grow. Sounds good, but with all of these wonderful discoveries there is always a but.
0 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
caljeepgirl 2/7/2020 3:07:46 PM (No. 311180)
Yes, another midleading article title...what else is new?
Also, speaking of Michael Crichton, State of Fear is another good read for "climate change"....
1 person likes this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
DVC 2/7/2020 4:32:53 PM (No. 311261)
#20, yes, and watch out for the little blue eyed octopus.
0 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
MickTurn 2/7/2020 8:19:15 PM (No. 311495)
They like glowing in the dark...
0 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
cacomistle 2/7/2020 8:34:49 PM (No. 311510)
I am reading a novel, Cold. Storage by David Koepp about this very subject. The story is interesting but the escape of the fungus is caused by global warming. You probably can’t get a book published without blaming global warming.
0 people like this.
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