The explosion of reactor number four at Chernobyl undoubtedly marked a before and after throughout Europe. It was during spring 1968, when clouds laden with radionuclides forced thousands to evacuate and, as if from a movie, created the exclusion zone that it remains, almost four decades later, an unintentional laboratory.
Where solitude, silence and destruction breathe, life resists. And, of all ways, Mushrooms have invaded the place. At the end of the 90s, Researcher Nelli Zhdanova entered the ruins of the reactor and found that the ducts, ceilings and walls were covered in dark mold who apparently grew up feeding on radiation.
The phenomenon of radiotropism
Zhdanova and her team described this phenomenon as radiotropism. That is, the worrying fact that not only can these organisms thrive in such a hostile environment; but They also grow by orienting themselves towards sources of radiation, as if something in them attracted them. The key seems to be in melaninthe pigment that darkens human skin and also stains many species of fungi black.
Just like tanning protects against ultraviolet rays, fungal melanin may play a role role of shield against particles even more energetic. Later experiments showed that some strains grew faster when exposed to radioactive sources. The mushrooms not only survived the radiation, but they harness it as energy.
Radiosynthesis
The idea was named radiosynthesis. At first glance it looks like the nuclear version of photosynthesis, a type of metabolism based on radiant energy. Although the exact mechanism remains unknown, the observations raise immense scientific questions. Could an organism use radiation to live in the same way that others use sunlight?
The Chernobyl mushrooms are not the only witnesses of an adaptation to the impossible. Even some animals in the area have shown signs of change. Local amphibian mitigationfor example, suggests that melanin may have acted as an evolutionary advantage within the contaminated area.
What implications does this have for science?
Other researchers have tested these fungi in extreme conditions, even outside of Earth. The same species found in Chernobyland I took him to the International Space Station and, subjected to cosmic radiation, it showed greater growth than its equivalents on Earth. Furthermore, experiments indicated that a layer of fungi could block some of this radiationproviding lightweight, snappy protection.
The hypothesis is then the following, if during trips to Mars or during the construction of lunar bases, the walls could be grown in space from melanized mushroomsthe costs of metal, synthetic materials and radiation shielding in space would be significantly reduced. Instead of transporting the shield from Earth, it would be built on site, with organisms capable of absorbing radiation.
The answers are still lacking, not all melanized species behave the same way, and there is no consensus on whether radiation fuels growth or simply does not prevent it. But the discoveries open a fascinating door
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