From Nuclear Wasteland to Deep Space: The Mutant Fungus That Could Save Astronauts
In 1991, five years after the Chernobyl disaster, scientists sent robots into the remains of the Reactor 4 exclusion zone. They expected to find a sterile, radioactive graveyard. Instead, they found life.
Growing directly on the walls of the destroyed reactor, bathed in lethal levels of gamma radiation, was a mysterious, pitch-black slime. It wasn’t just surviving the radiation; it was hungry for it.
The Superpower: Radiosynthesis Scientists discovered that this fungus (Cryptococcus neoformans) had evolved a biological superpower. Much like plants use chlorophyll to turn sunlight into energy (photosynthesis), this fungi uses melanin—the same pigment found in human skin—to capture radiation and convert it into chemical energy.
They call it “radiosynthesis.” The radiation that kills almost everything else on Earth acts as a high-octane energy drink for this fungus.
From Chernobyl to Mars: This discovery has caught the attention of NASA. If nature can build a shield that eats radiation, maybe we can too.
Space radiation is one of the biggest hurdles for missions to Mars. Researchers are now investigating whether we can extract this fungus’s power to create “living shields” for astronauts. A layer of this radiation-eating mold could potentially be grown on spaceships or Martian habitats, absorbing lethal rays and turning them into harmless biomass.
A Lesson from the Dead Zone: The existence of this “mutant” fungus proves a terrifying and beautiful rule of biology: Life finds a way. In the heart of the worst nuclear accident in history, nature didn’t just adapt; it turned our deadliest mistake into a buffet.
Source: Interesting Engineering
From Nuclear Wasteland to Deep Space: The Mutant Fungus That Could Save Astronauts
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