Science
Scientists Discover Black Fungus In Chernobyl That Thrives On Radiation
The greatest nuclear accident in history was caused by the explosion of reactor number four at Chernobyl, after which the surrounding region has yet to fully recover.
Despite the hazardous radiation levels surrounding it, scientists working amid the wrecked remnants of reactor four found an odd black mould spreading over the building walls following the accident at the Ukrainian nuclear power station.
In fact, the fungus seemed to be thriving in circumstances where no person would be expected to survive, and the radiation didn’t seem to be doing much harm to it.
After scientists saw that the fungus seemed to be actively seeking out locations with greater radiation, the Royal Society of Biology believes that this amiable fungus is “eating gamma radiation for breakfast,” which is a pretty dang cool thing for it to do.
What is the black fungus discovered in Chernobyl reactor 4?
A more technical term for the fungus than the black stuff that grew on the walls of Chernobyl is “Cladosporium sphaerospermum,” which is its official fancy name.
Although the fungus had been observed and studied a full century before to Chernobyl, many people would have avoided it despite the fact that it might be rather beneficial.
Regardless of its intended use, it is indisputable that this fungus found itself in a situation where it could not only survive but flourish following the Chernobyl catastrophe.
Why does the black fungus consume gamma radiation?
The interesting thing is that this black fungus found at Chernobyl belongs to a family of “radiotrophic fungi,” which are able to consume ionising radiation.
According to a study on the subject, these fungus could essentially consume radiation and use it to continue their activities.
Plants use sunshine to power their metabolic processes, much like in photosynthesis, except in this case, the sunlight is ionising radiation.
It’s called radiosynthesis, and Chernobyl has a lot of radiation to consume.
The pigment that gives us the colour of our skin and eyes, melanin, appears to be the reason why all of this is possible.
The dark shell of Cladosporium sphaerospermum, which is composed of layers of melanin, absorbs radiation energy and uses it to develop the fungus.
What does the discovery mean and why it could be a good thing?
This stuff actually looks to be fairly helpful, even though the concept of a strange black fungus that absorbs radiation sounds like the beginning of a particularly ominous movie in which we are assaulted by whatever mutant monster emerges from the fungus.
Although we shouldn’t expect it to consume the radiation from a nuclear accident, if this fungus can consume radiation, it might be a useful tool in locations where the ionising toxin is present.
Forbes claims that in an effort to determine whether the fungus may shield humans from cosmic radiation, some of it has been launched into space for experiments on board the ISS.
There may be some excellent applications for it even if it is unable to repair the harm caused at Chernobyl.
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