this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2024
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It might not be related, but they've found mold inside the reactor room of Chernobyl. Apparently it's evolved a chlorophyll like molecule that captures gamma radiation. It's literally living of the energy that makes the environment lethal to almost anything else (organic or electronic).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotrophic_fungus#:~:text=Radiotrophic%20fungi%20are%20fungi%20that,the%20Chernobyl%20Nuclear%20Power%20Plant.
Edit. Just checked and it's not confirmed how it's growing. They do know it grows significantly faster in a high radiation environment. They haven't pinned down the exact biological mechanism.
Oh, and yes, it's black in colour.
I don’t think I had this one on my apocalypse bingo sheet
I, for one, welcome our new gamma mold overlords.
Couldn't be any worse than the overlords we have now.
Oh cool so we have protomolecule now?
Badass. Was reading that thinking what about space applications. Sure enough there is a whole section on that in the wiki.
Appreciate you sharing this. Was super interesting to read.
Wasn't there some bacteria found in an uranium mine, enclosed for millions of years, that lives off gamma radiation too?
edit: yep. Those things could survive without the sun.
So theoretically, there could be organisms living on the surface of the sun?
Unlikely. Biochemistry, as we know it, relies on a carbon-carbon backbone. That breaks down long before the temperatures on the sun's main outer layers. The electrons get stripped off, and chemistry, as we know it, stops working.
Eating radiation is one thing, surviving those temperatures is another. I don't even think tardigrades can survive that hot.