TIL Fungi in Chernobyl appear to be feeding off gamma radiation and are growing towards the reactor core.

inkican@kbin.social to Today I Learned@kbin.social – 159 points – Eating gamma radiation for breakfast
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk
30

I, for one, welcome our new radioactive fungal overlords.

Melanin is how.

That took me by surprise. I had no idea melanin protected from radiation like it does from the sun.

@Spacebar Would that mean that potentially people with high amounts of melanin in their skin would likely be safer during the aftermath of a nuclear accident/attack????

@inkican

It depends on the amount. A little... like a really small dose? Maybe.

If you get blanked it with radio active fall out in a high enough dose you will die or be so terribly sick you will want to be dead. So it kind of depends. Between me and you I hope I'm caught right in the blast radius. Instant death is fine by me.

You either want to be really far away from a nuclear explosion, or right next to it.

I think the better way to understand this is to know that the melanin difference between the fairest skinned person and the darkest skinned person is way smaller than you think. Something like 2x. It makes a big difference to our eyes, but it makes almost no difference to deadly radiation.

Imagine your skin magically became twice as thick, twice as tough. This would be convenient to avoid minor scrapes and scratches, but if you get stabbed or shot you will die just like anybody else. Hence, darker skinned people fare better when fighting off sunburn, but their skin melts off just like anybody else's when the rad levels get truly dangerous, with basically no difference at all.

We just need to let it grow until it fills the New Safe Confinement. Then, in a century, when the NSC is due to be replaced we'll be off the hook thanks to the nuclear shroom.

I read this, with great excitement, to my husband. He listened in terror.

I think those are the only two responses.

haha exactly what happened here

Excellent. It has been years since I heard about these things. Sounds like they are thriving.

and this is how horror movies start.

It wouldn’t be so horrifying if they mushrooms were just growing around it - we’d be like “yeah, mushrooms are resilient.” It’s the “growing towards” part that makes it so unnerving, like it has a plan.

Plants regularly "grow towards" their energy source. I don't know why fungi would be different, as it's apparently a good evolution strategy. Get closer to what gives you energy.