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Radiation-Resistant Plants Could Be Used In Space

Posted by timothy on from the perfect-for-lunch-in-the-government-schools dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "New Scientist reports that two decades after the world's largest nuclear disaster, life around Chernobyl continues to adapt, with Chernobyl soya containing significantly different amounts of several dozen proteins, including one protein involved in defending cells from heavy metal and radiation damage. 'One protein is known to actually protect human blood from radiation,' says Martin Hajduch of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. In a study to determine how plants might have adapted to the meltdown, Hajduch's team compared soya grown in radioactive plots near Chernobyl with plants grown about 100 km away in uncontaminated soil. Results from the study suggest that adaptation toward heavy metal stress, protection against radiation damage, and mobilization of seed storage proteins are involved in the plant adaptation mechanism to radioactivity in the Chernobyl region (abstract). Determining how plants coped with life after Chernobyl could help scientists engineer radiation-resistant plants. While few farmers are eager to cultivate radioactive plots on Earth, future interplanetary travelers may one day need to grow crops to withstand space radiation."

13 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. but are they by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    first post resistant?

  2. I for one... by CBob · · Score: 3, Funny

    Welcome our radioactive plant overlords....

    1. Re:I for one... by davester666 · · Score: 4, Funny

      ...can I still call dibs on the patent, or did someone else already do it?

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    2. Re:I for one... by gnick · · Score: 4, Funny

      Would those be of the Audrey II or Triffid variety? Inquiring extraterrestrial-vegetation-phobics want to know.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  3. future bias by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 4, Funny

    future interplanetary travelers may one day need to grow crops to withstand space radiation.

    What about past interplanetary travelers? Will you not help them? Or are you so biased towards the entropic arrow of time, that you refuse to help those poor interplanetary travelers of the past? You Bastards! How do you sleep at night?

    --
    Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
  4. Re:Life goes on? by master5o1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    >Somewhere, Darwin smiles quietly.


    In his grave, maybe? Quietly because he's dead, perhaps?

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    signature is pants
  5. Shielding? by w0mprat · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'd rather the space hotel I visit would have adequate shielding, than require radiation resistance plants for it's hydroponic salad.

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  6. Re:Well... by wisty · · Score: 5, Funny

    Slashdotters have already been selected to survive with extreme sensory deprivation, and muscle atrophy. If they could only be bred ...

  7. Radiation resistant humans . . . by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Funny

    . . . is the next step in this study, I guess. If we were all radiation resistant, we could ditch fossil fuels and switch to nuclear.

    Radioactive waste? I eat it for breakfast.

    And my stomach functions as a breeder reactor, so my shit can be used to generate even more power.

    Top that.

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    1. Re:Radiation resistant humans . . . by RsG · · Score: 3, Funny

      Radioactive waste? I eat it for breakfast.

      You really shouldn't be going to Taco Bell that early in the day.

      And my stomach functions as a breeder reactor, so my shit can be used to generate even more power.

      Does that mean the nearest bathroom goes China syndrome around lunchtime?

      --
      Erotic is when you use a feather. Exotic is when you use the whole chicken.
  8. Re:Well... by timmarhy · · Score: 5, Funny

    bred?! you backwards hick we will be CLONED

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  9. E-I-E-I-D'OH! by Barradrewda · · Score: 2, Funny

    Finally, tomacco!

  10. Re:Public Perceptions by soupforare · · Score: 2, Funny

    Only when I run out

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