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Radiation-eating Fungi

Posted by samzenpus on Wed May 23, 2007 09:01 PM
from the writing-the-script-now dept.
Science News
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."
+ -
story

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  • My foot is an extremity (Score:4, Funny)

    by Timesprout (579035) on Wednesday May 23 2007, @09:03PM (#19247149)
    not an extreme environment you insensitive clod

  • Danger! (Evolution) (Score:5, Funny)

    by nebaz (453974) * on Wednesday May 23 2007, @09:03PM (#19247153)
    Eventually, the bacteria will evolve into this [google.com].

    • Re:Danger! (Evolution) (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2007, @10:03PM (#19247591)

      Eventually, the bacteria will evolve into this [google.com].
      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) (Score:5, Funny)

        by Rei (128717) on Thursday May 24 2007, @02:46AM (#19249345) Homepage
        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 (Score:3, Informative)

    by onemorehour (162028) * on Wednesday May 23 2007, @09:06PM (#19247173)
    Radiation is eating Fungi? I think you might have wanted: "Radiation-eating Fungi," especially in a headline. Consider: "Insect eating plants."

  • Radiation Eating Fungi (Score:5, Funny)

    by MillionthMonkey (240664) on Wednesday May 23 2007, @09:08PM (#19247197)
    This is a huge crisis. If radiation keeps eating fungi at this rate we'll have no mushrooms left by 2040!

  • Radiation Hormesis (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dontthink (1106407) on Wednesday May 23 2007, @09:32PM (#19247375)
    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: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by jandrese (485)
      Yeah, it's pretty freaky to read some of the ads in the back of comic books and women's magazines from the early 20s where they were touting Radium as some sort of miracle drug for whatever ails you.

      • Re:Radiation Hormesis (Score:5, Interesting)

        by dontthink (1106407) on Wednesday May 23 2007, @09:50PM (#19247499)
        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 (Score:5, Funny)

      by Max Littlemore (1001285) on Wednesday May 23 2007, @10:11PM (#19247645)

      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

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

  • Link to Mir fungi (Score:5, Informative)

    by Joaz Banbeck (1105839) on Wednesday May 23 2007, @10:11PM (#19247639)
    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 [space.com]

    • Re:I thought this was news (Score:4, Interesting)

      by 4e617474 (945414) on Thursday May 24 2007, @03:51AM (#19249671)

      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".

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