"That fungus is called Cladosporium sphaerospermum, and some scientists think its dark pigment – melanin – may allow it to harness ionizing radiation through a process similar to the way plants harness light for photosynthesis. This proposed mechanism is even referred to as radiosynthesis."
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/39553283 https://libretechni.ca/post/483480
56 Comments
zabadoh@ani.social · 93 pts · 262d
You want Hulk fungi?
Because this is how you get Hulk fungi.
It's even approximately that shade of green.
MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io · 22 pts · 261d
It’s not the fungi we asked for, but it’s the fungi we deserve.
ieatpwns@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 261d
The thumbnail looks like a sphincter
zabadoh@ani.social · 3 pts · 261d
!dontputyourdickinthat
Akasazh@feddit.nl · 2 pts · 261d
Radiation turns you black, instead of green, who knew..
TheBat@lemmy.world · 49 pts · 262d
ArgentRaven@lemmy.world · 49 pts · 262d
3.6? Well it's not great, but it's not terrible.
ExhaleSmile@lemmy.world · 30 pts · 262d
The meter only goes to 3.6!
Madrigal@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 262d
And the high-range dosimeter from the safe burned out immediately. It must have been faulty!
veni_vedi_veni@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 262d
Funniest/saddest moment from that miniseries was when their officials have the West the propaganda numbers to build the robot. Fucking lol...
Black616Angel@discuss.tchncs.de · 4 pts · 261d
I don't know it for sure, but I understood that the Germans built a robot capable of withstanding the propaganda number not explicitly for the Russians. It just happens to withstand those, but not the real numbers...
Madrigal@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 262d
“West Germany, though, so you can imagine how that conversation went.”
AA5B@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 261d
This looks like one of those bad conversions to imperial- instead of 3.28 feet per meter, your spaceship crashes into the surface
Zachariah@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 262d
it’s out of 3
Goretantath@lemmy.world · 41 pts · 262d
Does this fungus "eat" the radiation, as in we can use it to clean up radioactive areas? Cause that'd be nice.
Treczoks@lemmy.world · 39 pts · 262d
Sadly, no. Radioactive processes happen without any external control (at least not on this level, they don't run a reactor or accelerator), and this fungus only harvests the energy.
jj4211@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 261d
Akin to how plants photosynthesize without doing anything to the sun.
At least there it does provide shade, though I doubt the fungus would provide a whole lot of shielding...
frongt@lemmy.zip · 11 pts · 261d
If it's absorbing the energy, then it's not passing through. That's shielding.
But like light shining through a plant's leaves, it probably doesn't absorb anywhere near all the energy, so probably not useful as actual shielding material.
village604@adultswim.fan · 3 pts · 261d
But, like any shielding, the thickness matters. And if this stuff could also convert CO2 to oxygen, having a bunch would be a good thing.
a4ng3l@lemmy.world · 30 pts · 261d
It eats the radiation, not its source though. The emitter would have to be removed. Maybe it could be used in shielding ? Like in space where background radiation seems to be a problem.
_stranger_@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 261d
It needs carbon to grow, so it would be a CO2 scrubber AND a source of food assuming it's edible. 🤔🤔🤔
a4ng3l@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 261d
I would not be eating something with a radioactive-based diet in space… that’s like 2 steps away from opening the gates of hell of something like that xD
thebestaquaman@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 260d
Fantastic thing though: It doesn't "eat" radiation in the sense that it becomes radioactive itself. It just absorbs the energy from the radiation, like plants absorb sunlight, to power a synthesis that lets it convert CO2 to organic material.
_stranger_@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 261d
bonus: you won't need eyes?
a4ng3l@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 261d
Damn that was a rough one
InFerNo@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 261d
BFG Division intensifies
Deconceptualist@leminal.space · 26 pts · 262d
Well if it just evolved this ability that suggests it found a unique niche. But it probably hasn't optimized this, since it doesn't have any pressure to compete against other organisms for the radiation source.
But the good news is that we could selectively breed the fungus, or even generically engineer it (once the genes are isolated) to maximize the ability much faster.
I don't know how useful it would be for site cleanup but it might at least become good insulation (like the idea of space station shielding mentioned in the article).
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 261d
In the future, instead of shooting up shiny silver rockets, we'll be firing up rockets covered in gross mold.
qarbone@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 261d
Obviously you hide the gross fungi under a nice silvery façade. You don't compromise aesthetics in space or all the other stellar societies will laugh at us, and uninvite us from the quasar parties.
AA5B@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 261d
We could breed it to incorporate radioactive particles to make it independently self-sustaining
Cethin@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 261d
One potentially useful thing that they could be used for is finding radioactive contamination. Presumably it grows best at higher radiation, so instead searching with
gingerGeiger counters for radioactive contaminants you could spread this stuff out over the environment, then just look for where it is growing a while later. Engineer it to be bright orange or something.Xerxos@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 261d
One ginger, two ginger... Lot of redheads around today
sirico@feddit.uk · 5 pts · 261d
Like everything nuclear, it's a double edge sword. Clearing up nuclear power would be amazing. People knowing they can Nuke something and eradicate the after effects quickly
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 261d
You mean, digesting one of the dotzens of toxic Uran derivatives to thin air? I don't think so.
Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip · 35 pts · 261d
explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 22 pts · 262d
I for one welcome our melanin-pigmented overlords.
anomnom@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 261d
Can’t go worse than the spray tanned ones.
Windex007@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 262d
Life... uhhh...
DandomRude@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 262d
The evidence that the fungi overlords will soon take over continues to mount...that's why I don't eat mushrooms...better safe than sorry...
SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 261d
I can't wait until we can lab-grow lignin, I'm talking 3D printed wood, mofuckas
quick_snail@feddit.nl · 5 pts · 261d
Why would you want to take something that's cheap and make something that's wayy more expensive?
SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works · 17 pts · 261d
Because it won't be cheap when I escape into space
Heliumfart@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 261d
I love the idea of cracking methane brought in from Kuiper belt objects, and growing massive cubes of artificial wood with giant orbital solar arrays. In some future where this was possible, with a delivery system to the surface (maybe deorbiting into the ocean), we could theoretically curtail most deforestation on the planet.
njordomir@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 261d
Returns are gonna be rough when Home Depot Orbital/Galactic drops a huge stack of bent 2x4s from orbit directly into your backyard. "Just take them back where you bought them."
Having said that, "tree" satellites sound pretty cool.
SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 261d
My thoughts exactly
Heliumfart@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 261d
Too bad that humanity is obsessed with such stupd shit.i
toynbee@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 261d
It's cool that that letter migrated seven spaces over.
Heliumfart@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 261d
They have a life of ther own. i
quick_snail@feddit.nl · -3 pts · 261d
I hope you're able to get mental health services
SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 261d
what, in space? I don't think that falls under the scope of "universal" health care
zeca@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 261d
Well... it should!
rageagainstmachines@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 262d
I should call her.
idiomaddict@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 261d
You should call her a doctor
Meron35@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 261d
Everything reminds me of him
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 261d
What was it again. A bacteria in a pocket in some Uran mine, that directly uses radiation as energy source? Might be yet another mechanism.
t_berium@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 261d
So this is how the 40K Orks came to be! Makes sense.
altphoto@lemmy.today · -2 pts · 262d
Extract the gene and inject it into a roach. Then encode human DNA into roach eggs and fly those roaches to Mars. After a few generations we would have a fully grown man roach able to feed off the radiation. That's as far as I've gotten that idea. Oh man, tomorrow is another fuckin Monday. But we're just 5 more weeks from 2026 can't wait to 2029 when we'll have a new president. Thanks electoral college! Without you we wouldn't be able to choose the most retarded possible person for the job. I hope you guys eat some psychedelics this time around. Sure we could also choose whatever the public picks. Wait, what was the question?