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The mysterious black fungus from Chernobyl that may eat radiationwww.bbc.com/future/article/20251125-the-mysterious-black-fungus-from-chernobyl-that-appears-to-eat-radiation
252 sats \ 2 comments \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears 30 Nov science
While this is fascinating on its own, the part near the end is what really intrigues me -- this has the potential to really help against galactic cosmic radiation in space (which is a huge threat in any place without an atmosphere like earth's). Could be crucial for actual Mars colonization as well as future space exploration.
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @adlai 30 Nov
It's really unfortunate they used the word "eat"; if you think about microbe metabolism, and analogizing the various processes to those with which we as macroscopic animals are more familiar, then a much more accurate verb is probably "breathe".
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89 sats \ 0 replies \ @south_korea_ln 30 Nov
At the centre of this story is a pigment found widely in life on Earth: melanin. This molecule, which can range from black to reddish brown, is what leads to different skin and hair colours in people. But it is also the reason why the various species of mould growing in Chernobyl were black. Their cell walls were packed with melanin.
Just as darker skin protects our cells from ultraviolet (UV) radiation, Zhdanova suspected that the melanin of these fungi was acting as a shield against ionising radiation.
It wasn't just fungi that were harnessing melanin's protective properties. In the ponds around Chernobyl, frogs with higher concentrations of melanin in their cells, and so darker in colour, were better able to survive and reproduce, slowly turning the local population living there black.
In warfare, a shield might protect a soldier from an arrow by deflecting the projectile away from their body. But melanin doesn't work like this. It isn't a hard or smooth surface. The radiation – whether UV or radioactive particles – is swallowed by its disordered structure, its energy dissipated rather than deflected. Melanin is also an antioxidant, a molecule that can turn the reactive ions that radiation produces in biological matter and return them to a stable state.
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