Radiation-eating Fungi

SEWilco writes "Fungus growths have been found in many extreme environments, including the Chernobyl reactor walls. Some fungi have been found whose growth is enhanced by radiation. I wonder if someone saved samples of the MIR-eating fungi."

Comments

My foot is an extremity

[Timesprout]

not an extreme environment you insensitive clod

Re:My foot is an extremity

[The13thSin]

Well that depends... do you have a shower?

Re:My foot is an extremity

[Timesprout]

Annually.

Danger! (Evolution)

[nebaz]

Eventually, the bacteria will evolve into this.

Re:Danger! (Evolution)

[Anonymous Coward]

Eventually, the bacteria will evolve into this. Why do you hate America? Evolution is a myth and is nothing more than an attack on God and the American Way of Life.

Re:Danger! (Evolution)

[Rei]

Wake up -- America is already in the hands of the Darwinists. Haven't you watched any TV or movies lately? It's everywhere, treated as fact.

Want to help change this sad state of affairs? Join my project; we're redoing popular video games to remove the ungodly influences imposed on them by modern society.

"Look! Pikachu is being intelligently designed!"

hyphenation

[onemorehour]

Radiation is eating Fungi? I think you might have wanted: "Radiation-eating Fungi," especially in a headline. Consider: "Insect eating plants."

Re:hyphenation

[Anonymous Coward]

Radiation is eating Fungi? I think you might have wanted: "Radiation-eating Fungi," especially in a headline. Consider: "Insect eating plants." Don't be silly. You would want radiation to eat fungi. Think of it this way: when you find mildew in your shower all you have to do is pull out your 20 curie Co-60 test source and it would go away. And as an added benefit you could perform radiography on your pipes* and have a full dental x-ray at the same time.

*pun intended

Re:hyphenation

[IQgryn]

I'll call your grammar mastery and raise you one Venus Flytrap.

Radiation Eating Fungi

[MillionthMonkey]

This is a huge crisis. If radiation keeps eating fungi at this rate we'll have no mushrooms left by 2040!

Re:Radiation Eating Fungi

[falconcy]

...and there was me wondering why nukes make a mushroom cloud!

Original headline was correct...

[raehl]

Remember, Chernobyl was in Soviet Russia.

Re:Original headline was correct...

[weapon]

Er, Ukraine. Chernobyl is in Ukraine. Ukraine most definitely is not Russia. Yes these days Chernobyl is in Ukraine, which is not in Russia, but in 1986 when the melt down occurred, it was in Russia and back then it was Soviet Russia, the the GP was correct:

Remember, Chernobyl was in Soviet Russia. and that's my two cents

Re:Original headline was correct...

[slashdotmsiriv]

"Er, Ukraine. Chernobyl is in Ukraine. Ukraine most definitely is not Russia.", "Yes these days Chernobyl is in Ukraine, which is not in Russia, but in 1986 when the melt down occurred, it was in Russia and back then it was Soviet Russia, the the GP was correct: Remember, Chernobyl was in Soviet Russia. and that's my two cents" Er, Ukraine was a _state_ in the Soviet _Union_, thus Chernobyl was in Soviet Ukraine, not Soviet Russia

Re:Original headline was correct...

[Carewolf]

Baah. It is all Russia, the same way Scotland and Wales is part of England, and Rotterdam part of Holland.

This renaming trick is just a convenient way to avoid badboy-points.

Re:Original headline was correct...

[elFarto the 2nd]

Scotland and Wales are in no way a part of England, they are all a part of Great Britain.

Re:Original headline was correct...

[daem0n1x]

Scotland and Wales are part of England???

Not only that's totally false, but I'd like to see your face minutes after you said that in loud voice at a pub in Edinburgh.

Radiation Hormesis

[dontthink]

First off, IAAMP (I am a medical physicsist). This is sort of radiation-induced growth stimulus was actually studied extensively in the first half of the 20th century. A great reference for this behavior is a paper published in Human & Experimental Toxicology called "Radiation hormesis: its historical foundations as a biological hypothesis" by Calbrese and Baldwin, which examines the dozens of studies examining the effects of low dose radiation on plants, fungi, and insects - fascinating stuff. Over 2/3 of the studies in this time period showed increased growth with radiation, while the other 1/3 used relatively high doses (which is known to have net detrimental effects). People were actually interested in putting radioactive isotopes in fertilizer to encourage crop growth, but results weren't great and the A-bomb happened... and we all know where the public's perception of radiation went after that. I've got a PDF of that paper if anyone is interested (the online version requires a subscription, I believe).

Re:Radiation Hormesis

[dontthink]

Yup, I sometimes feel like I missed out by being born after the golden age of radium enemas. On a more serious note, the concept that low doses of radiation can be beneficial has been a pretty hot topic of debate in the radiological science community lately. There was an incident in Taiwan where radioactive Co-60 (is there really any other kind?) was accidentally recycled into scrap steel that was used in over 200 buildings, giving the occupants low doses of radiation. The standardized incidence ratios (the ratio of observed cancers to expected cancers based on the entire population) in these occupants was on the order of ~0.8, or a 20% reduction in cancer incidence. Also look at studies of cancer incidence between regions of high and low background radiation - rates are lower in high background regions. There are all kinds of problems with these epidemiological studies (confounding factors like socioeconomic status and such), but not always. One study compared 100 years of cancer incidence and mortality data of British radiologists - their life expectancies and cancer rates were significantly than other British physicians (also by ~ 20%). If interested, the Nuclear Shipyard Worker Study also has some very interesting results in this vein. Good, controlled research on the topic of low-dose radiation with respect to humans is hard to come by, however, considering the major stigma attached to radiation. Other than worker and background radiation studies, you've pretty much got to wait until an accident happens.

Re:Radiation Hormesis

[Max Littlemore]

This is sort of radiation-induced growth stimulus was actually studied extensively in the first half of the 20th century.

Of course now we know that the reason fungus survives in relatively high raditaion environments like nuclear reactors is because fungii are ruled by Scorpio and the most influencial planet for Scorpio is Pluto. Pluto of course has dominion over "unseen forces", such as ionizing radiation, and its metal is plutonium - the link is so obvious I don't see how this is newsworthy.

Let me know when the manufacturers of tinea medication realise that the harmonious 120 degree seperation between Pisces (which rules the foot) and Scorpio (which rules fungus) abandon their business because they cannot overcome what's written in the stars

Re:Radiation Hormesis

[dontthink]

Yep, Cameron was extremely gung-ho about radiation hormesis... and it really isn't a new debate - it has been ongoing for the past century. The linear no-threshold model of radiation dose-response (endorsed by most regulatory agencies) was essentially developed as a tool for risk assessment derived from an extrapolation of A-bomb survivors with basically no data to support it at low doses. It really only became prominent due to its conservative nature, the public's perception of radiation, and simplicity. Interestingly, Cameron often described low levels of radiation as "essential trace energy," similar to how small amounts of otherwise toxic elements (essential trace elements) can be beneficial. Unfortunately, my TLD is usually negligible too...

Re:Radiation Hormesis

[dontthink]

They do have ideas why low-dose radiation can be beneficial. One possible mechanism is damage prevention. After irradiation, there is an increase in levels of proteins and enzymes that scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) (As a point of reference, the natural level of ROS in the body is about 3 orders of magnitude greater than that caused by background radiation). This response subsequently increases the rate that natural ROS are removed, resulting in a net decrease in damaged DNA in the system. Damage repair also likely plays a role; in vitro studies of human fibroblasts have shown that the cellular repair rate is increased by doses in the range of 1 - 500 mGy. Low doses of radiation may also induce apoptosis in cells that have undergone an oncogenic transformation. Low doses may also initiate increased immune competence, which could be beneficial in terms of many other diseases. More detail can be found here: Feinendegen, LE; "Evidence for beneficial low level radiation effects and radiation hormesis," The British Journal of Radiology, 2005, Vol 78, p 3-7. The bulk of this paragraph was blatently copy-pasted from a term-paper of mine...

possible upside?

[circletimessquare]

so if i don't shower, that means i will be saved from this horrible cell phone and wifi radiation i keep hearing about?

Re:possible upside?

[djdavetrouble]

You have escaped from kuro5hin ????!?!
Quick, alert the authorities, like that guy who owns the internet !

Link to Mir fungi

[Joaz Banbeck]

The link for mir-eating fungi goes to an old slashdot story which itself points to a dead link. A usable link to the original story is here: http://www.space.com/news/spacestation/space_fungu s_000727.html

I'm confused ... if I eat these ...

[SpeedyDX]

Will I turn into Fungus-man? Or will I suddenly grow twice my size? Or will I get an extra life?

Re:Chemistry anyone?

[Secshunayt]

Radioactive isotopes can emit alpha particles, which are helium nuclei, beta particles, which are an electron emitted from the nucleus when a neutron changes into a proton and an electron, or gamma particles (more accurately rays) which have no mass or charge and are a form of electromagnetic radiation. The closest thing to what you are suggesting would be an ionized hydrogen atom, which is simply a proton. This, however, is not a form of radiation; it's just, well, hydrogen.

Re:I thought this was news

[4e617474]

I doubt it's possible to get living organisms to shorten the half-life of radioactive materials, but fungi that abosrb radioactive materials can be very useful. When radioactive waste contaminates the ground, fungi can extract and concentrate it. The mushrooms can then be harvested for disposal as radioactive waste, leaving the soil in the area less radioactive. Paul Stamets describes it in Mycelium Running (there're good facts in between the hippie/druggie/mystical stuff) describing this and other similar applications of fungi as "mycoremediation".