The 1986 catastrophe at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant devastated the area surrounding it. It left the area completely uninhabitable for humans. However, many other creatures have continued to call the radiation-filled exclusion zone home.
Wild dogs living in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone have inexplicably turned blue. Wolves who still inhabit the area may have become resistant to cancer. Butterflies the size of birds have appeared in the area. And now, scientists have identified a black fungus in the zone, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, that appears to have evolved an ability that has never been seen before.
Michelle Starr of Science Alert reports, “…clinging to the interior walls of one of the most radioactive buildings on Earth, scientists have found a strange black fungus curiously living its best life.”
How is this fungus not only able to survive high levels of radiation, but seemingly thrive in it?
One theory for how this fungus, and others, have survived so well in spite of the presence of ionizing radiation has to do with their dark pigmentation. The concept is called radiosynthesis and it is similar photosynthesis, only instead of plants harnessing light, the fungi harnesses radiation.
Radiosynthesis, however, is hard to prove as a theory. Not that has stopped some scientists from trying.
The results of one study revealed: “The fungus – and others like it – appeared to be harvesting ionizing radiation and converting it into energy, with melanin performing a similar function to the light-absorbing pigment chlorophyll. At the same time, the melanin behaves as a protective shield against the more harmful effects of that radiation.”
In a follow-up study, C. sphaerospermum was taken into space and placed on the exterior of the International Space Station. Not only did the fungus survive cosmic radiation, but it also actually grew better in space. Now researchers are trying to figure out if it can be used in the future as a sort of living radiation shield for space missions, space-based living, and at nuclear facilities.