Inside Chernobyl, a Fungus Has Been Quietly Feasting on Radiation
https://www.sciencealert.com/this-chernobyl-fungus-seems-to-have-evolved-an-incredible-ability
https://www.sciencealert.com/this-chernobyl-fungus-seems-to-have-evolved-an-incredible-ability
46 Comments
Denixen@feddit.nu · 107 pts · 39d
According to the article there exists no evidence that it actually synthesis energy from the radiation. The title is a flat out lie. It is a hypothesis with zero evidence.
Also, it claims melanin that makes it dark, like our skin, is part of the synthesis, but an easier explanation is that it is there to protect against radiation, just like how melanin in our skin protects us from solar radiation.
The whole idea of "radio-synthesis" is pseudoscientific bullshit with nothing to back it up.
nialv7@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 38d
it's a hypothesis... making hypotheses and verifying them is how science progresses. you can't dismiss every single unproven hypotheses as pseudoscience. that is in fact, unscientific.
on the other hand, i am tired of media sensationalising as well...
HollowNaught@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 38d
The bigger problem here is that the paper is stating an (as of currently) unsupported hypothesis as a definitive fact
Denixen@feddit.nu · 0 pts · 37d
Pseudoscience is claiming something as fact when you have no evidence. Portraying an hypothesis as fact is an example of pseudoscience.
It isn't the hypothesis that makes things scientific, it is the testing and falsification of the hypothesis that makes it scientific. No such has been done.
Until you have the evidence and results, all you have is a sophisticated guess.
I absolutely can dismiss every unproven hypothesis as pseudoscience if it is used as if it was a proven hypothesis. You should too.
scratchee@feddit.uk · 9 pts · 38d
Yeah, and not like it needs to eat radiation to be successful, all it has to do is survive in a place where everything else dies, and suddenly it has no competitors or predators, and is free to grow explosively.
scarabic@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 38d
I disagree - there’s a massive corpus of science fiction behind it. Protomolecule!!
YeahToast@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 37d
Unfortunately science alert has had shitty click bait titles for years.
Kevlar21@piefed.social · 105 pts · 39d
It would be more interesting if it was noisily feasting on radiation
radiofreebc@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 39d
What...was it raised in a barn? People who chew with their mouths open deserve a special place in hell.
Kevlar21@piefed.social · 32 pts · 39d
Actually it was raised in the Chernobyl exclusion zone so I think we can make an exception
GlendatheGayWitch@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 38d
You dont know if your tinnitus is getting worse or theres radiation fungus around
iocase@lemmy.zip · 41 pts · 38d
can we stop using the word quietly!? I am so quietly sick of hearing the word quietly in every god damn sentence I see
Burninator05@lemmy.world · 30 pts · 38d
I am SLAMMED that your are quietly sick of hearing quietly.
iocase@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 38d
I am silent screaming at your quiet comment that SLAMMED me.
Maroon@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 38d
Could you type this a bit quieter?
iocase@lemmy.zip · 28 pts · 38d
tonywu@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 38d
Upvoted quietly cause cat.
stardreamer@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 13 pts · 38d
Sorry, but the fungus has been burping and slurping on radiation.
db2@lemmy.world · 39 pts · 39d
otp@sh.itjust.works · 36 pts · 38d
Quietly? Do fungi typically feast loudly?
Mad_Punda@feddit.org · 18 pts · 38d
They didn’t announce their feast on social media.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 38d
Nom nom nom nom
NarrativeBear@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 39d
I wonder if theres a possibility to line a spaceship haul with this stuff to protect from cosmic radiation.
Zonetrooper@lemmy.world · 48 pts · 39d
It's an interesting thought, but according to the article, it's not even clear that the fungus is absorbing radiation or befitting from radiation. Actual photosynthesis-via-radiation hasn't been demonstrated; it might simply be taking advantage of the absence of other species due to high radiation, or the radiation is triggering a stress response.
Beyond that, I'm not sure this fungus would have a better protection-per-ton rating than, say, water (which is an astoundingly good radiation shield). But, it might point us towards ways of developing plants which are radiation-tolerant, theoretically opening a path to growing food in orbital or lunar-surface environments.
LemmyTellYou@lemmy.cafe · 6 pts · 38d
Now I’m imagining ‘Moon Melons, Moon Mangos and Moon Mangetout”
felixwhynot@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 39d
This is mentioned in the article!
kayzeekayzee@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 39d
That sounds like a bad idea
KC_Royalz@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 39d
Ok who wants to stick their dick in it first?
Gregers@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 39d
I think you found a perfect fit for you. I'll lend you my microscope
CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 39d
Me! Me!
KC_Royalz@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 39d
The origin story of the toxic avenger
BastingChemina@slrpnk.net · 13 pts · 39d
It's not going to end well for the belters
Broadfern@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 39d
There is a fungus for everything
ace_garp@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 39d
Forbidden dumplings.
jade52@lemmy.ca · 9 pts · 39d
Thought these were green buttholes
SethTaylor@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 38d
=3
It... uhm...
Looks like...
Uhm...
You know...
A butthole
baronvonj@piefed.social · 4 pts · 38d
Wash. Your. Ass.
SethTaylor@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 37d
No. I will not wash my wok and I will not wash my ass. I must preserve the flavor
random_character_a@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 38d
So it's like last of us, but instead of making everyone a zombie, it makes everyone an drooing asshole with the goal of making the entire planet a radiated nuclear wasteland.
My god, we've been blaming social media for that. We are doomed! AI threat was just a diversion.
deltapi@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 38d
I wonder if it 'toots to scoot.'
Skanky@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 38d
I should call her...
dzsimbo@sopuli.xyz · 5 pts · 39d
That's a pretty funky video in the article. I didn't see much funghi, but I think the camera sensor was picking up on the radiation. At the dark scenes you can see these white artifacts, almost like ants on the screen, when you don't have a CRT TV tuned to a channel.
Nounka@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 38d
Fungus eats radiation ... i think i saw the movie
TIEPilot@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 39d
Real life Fallout's "Glowing Fungus"
orenj@leminal.space · 3 pts · 38d
I hope when it develops sapience that we can be friends
gandalf_der_12te@feddit.org · 1 pts · 39d
nexguy@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 38d
There is a form of life that can digest radioactive material to make it less radioactive?
Doubt
Edit: which chemical reaction can reduce radioactivity?
Edit2: seems like the part that said harvest and convert made me think it claimed to reduce radioactivity. But it seems like it does nothing to reduce radioactivity, just exist in it.