Fungi Discovered to be “Radiation-Eating”
June 24, 2011
"Radiation-Eating' Fungi Finding Could Trigger Recalculation of Earth's Energy Balance and Help Feed Astronauts"
photo from RedIceCreationsThis item caught our attention relative to Fukushima and previous nuclear accidents. Until we learn to manage our use of nuclear energy or choose something friendlier, perhaps fungi are part of the solution.
"Scientists have long assumed that fungi exist mainly to decompose matter into chemicals that other organisms can then use. But researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found evidence that fungi possess a previously undiscovered talent with profound implications: the ability to use radioactivity as an energy source for making food and spurring their growth."
"The ability of fungi to live off radiation could also prove useful to people: "Since ionizing radiation is prevalent in outer space, astronauts might be able to rely on fungi as an inexhaustible food source on long missions or for colonizing other planets," says Dr. Ekaterina Dadachova, associate professor of nuclear medicine and microbiology & immunology at Einstein and lead author of the study"
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070522210932.htm" target="_blank">See full source article here.
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