# Radiation-loving fungi inside a Chernobyl reactor **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 22, 2007, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080 "2007-09-22T05:55:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/1 "2007-09-22T05:55:50Z")
[Assuming this is for real](http://unitedcats.wordpress.com/2007/05/29/major-biological-discoveryinside-the-chernobyl-reactor/), it is every SF B movie fan’s dream come true: > [@](#): > > There has been an exciting new biological discovery inside the tomb of the Chernobyl reactor. Like out of some B-grade sci fi movie, a robot sent into the reactor discovered a thick coat of black slime growing on the walls. Since it is highly radioactive in there, scientists didn’t expect to find anything living, let alone thriving. > > [snip] > > This slime, a collection of several fungi actually, was more than just surviving in a radioactive environment, it was actually using gamma radiation as a food source. Samples of these fungi grew significantly faster when exposed to gamma radiation at 500 times the normal background radiation level. The fungi appear to use melanin, a chemical found in human skin as well, in the same fashion as plants use chlorophyll. That is to say, the melanin molecule gets struck by a gamma ray and its chemistry is altered. This is an amazing discovery, no one had even suspected that something like this was possible. We shouldn’t get too excited, but this could have some major implications for nuclear power: > [@](#): > > Now the fungi couldn’t actually eat the radioactive isotopes, I’m not saying that, but if they can live in radioactive environments they might be used to somehow scour out or concentrate the radioactive isotopes in such a way as to facilitate their clean up. Maybe. I hope so, anyway. The fact anything can thrive in a highly radioactive environment is fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/2 "2007-09-22T06:37:48Z")
Finally, proof of the paranormal. Sounds like they could use some Parapsychologists on this proof… ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/3 "2007-09-22T06:47:14Z")
> [@](#): > > This slime, a collection of several fungi actually, was more than just surviving in a radioactive environment, it was actually using gamma radiation as a food source. What happens if you make the fungi angry? > [@](#): > > The fungi appear to use melanin, a chemical found in human skin as well, in the same fashion as plants use chlorophyll. Oh, great. So these rampaging radioactive fungi will soon be oozing across Eastern European, _eating people’s skin._ At least most people in that part of the world are fair-skinned white folk. (Preceding post not guaranteed to be 100% serious.) ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/4 "2007-09-22T07:35:40Z")
[QUOTE=MEBuckner] What happens if you make the fungi angry? [/QUOTE] I’m going to go out on a limb and say you wouldn’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/5 "2007-09-22T07:43:55Z")
[QUOTE=devilsknew] Finally, proof of the paranormal. [/QUOTE] More like proof of evolution, if you ask me. I wonder if this Teenage Mutant Ninja Fungus can survive in a non-radioactive environment? ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/6 "2007-09-22T08:03:47Z")
Just more proof that this planet belongs to the microorganisms. We just live here. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/7 "2007-09-22T09:15:11Z")
[QUOTE=KGS] I wonder if this Teenage Mutant Ninja Fungus can survive in a non-radioactive environment? [/QUOTE] We’d probably need a really thick lead box to find out, given the amount of background radiation naturally occurring everywhere in the Universe but especially near rocky planets like Earth full of uranium ores. That’s what always gets me about the people who have a holy dread of radiation: They have _no idea_ how much they’re constantly bathing in even if they do manage to stay out of the sun entirely. Anyway, the article said the fungi grew _faster_ when in gamma radiation 500 times that of natural background radiation. To me, that implies there is nonzero (slow, perhaps) growth when only natural background radiation is supplied. ---
**Author:** ![Slander\_Q.Libel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Slander\_Q.Libel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slander_Q.Libel)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/8 "2007-09-22T09:38:53Z")
Flashback to [this](http://www.impawards.com/1968/posters/green_slime.jpg) classic B-flick… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/9 "2007-09-22T13:13:41Z")
[QUOTE=Slander Q. Libel] Flashback to [this](http://www.impawards.com/1968/posters/green_slime.jpg) classic B-flick… [/QUOTE] And it’s on Gamma 3! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/10 "2007-09-22T13:27:07Z")
H.P. Lovecraft would be thrilled. I’m horrified. ---
**Author:** ![Slander\_Q.Libel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Slander\_Q.Libel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slander_Q.Libel)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/11 "2007-09-22T14:09:18Z")
I can, I must, I will resist the temptation… ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/12 "2007-09-22T14:55:11Z")
> [@Slander Q. Libel](#): > > Flashback to [this](http://www.impawards.com/1968/posters/green_slime.jpg) classic B-flick… “Don’t it turn your black slime green…” Apparently, these fungi are endochronic, or at least able to evade simple searches. [I got beaten to this punch by someone on sabbatical!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=424006) Needless to say, the person who got here first was **Tuckerfan** , and his thread is better than mine. More links and everything. I suggest you read that thread instead of this one, and let this one become entombed in lossage and fail. Stinking fungus-eating Tuckerfan… with his movable headlights… and the market penetration of a wet grouse… bah! ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/13 "2007-09-22T15:06:53Z")
[QUOTE=MEBuckner] What happens if you make the fungi angry? [/QUOTE] Don’t be silly, fun guys don’t get angry. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/14 "2007-09-22T15:08:19Z")
[QUOTE=MEBuckner] What happens if you make the fungi angry? [/QUOTE] Not sure, but I think we wouldn’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![Slander\_Q.Libel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Slander\_Q.Libel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slander_Q.Libel)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/15 "2007-09-22T15:12:35Z")
[QUOTE=Ferret Herder] Not sure, but I think we wouldn’t like it. [/QUOTE] Absolutely… they are not to be truffled with. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/16 "2007-09-22T15:35:26Z")
[QUOTE=Slander Q. Libel] Absolutely… they are not to be truffled with. [/QUOTE] [Irradiated Spetsnaz] “Melanin…! Must eat melanin!!!” [/Irradiated Spetsnaz] :eek: 😃 Waiter, we’ll start with a Tea Leoni appetizer with a bottle of Cedar Lane Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc (the 2005). Is the Ringwald fresh today? No…no. I had the Reba last time and it definately did not agree with me… ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/17 "2007-09-22T15:36:42Z")
Somehow, the old joke doesn’t ring the same unfortunately. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/18 "2007-09-22T16:04:10Z")
Wait, seriously, this could give insight into what causes the skin cancer, Melanoma. Let’s hope it can be studied. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radiation-loving-fungi-inside-a-chernobyl-reactor/420080/19 "2007-09-22T19:51:48Z")
Also seriously, there’s great potential for using fungi in bioremediation, as they accumulate and concentrate heavy metals, aiding environmental cleanup projects. See **Mycelium Running** , by Paul Stamets. And check out his website, [Fungi Perfecti](http://www.fungi.com/index.html) , for info on medicinal and culinary mushrooms, as well as bioremediation.