AWESOME FUNGI!

In Pripyat, inside the tomb of the Chernobyl reactor, scientists discovered large amounts of live fungi. What was so amazing about this discovery was the fact that it was highly radioactive in the tomb, and the scientists didn't expect to find anything living in it. The fungi was living off of gamma radiation. These fungi grew even faster when they were exposed to 500 times the normal background radiation level. The fungi use melanin, which, when struck by a gamma ray is chemically altered. This discovery also leads to the question of whether humans get some of their energy from radiation, since we have melanin molecules in our skin cells. It also implies that there could be organisms living in space where ionizing radiation is plentiful.

I thought this was very interesting, and the fact that I could be getting energy from radiation is just incredible. I would like to see this discovery further investigated, so I can learn more about it.

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