
Radiotrophic fungus - zerogvt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotrophic_fungus
======
apo
> Radiotrophic fungi were discovered in 1991 growing inside and around the
> Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.[1]

The original study is open access and is worth reading. Here's an interesting
little review:

> The literature already contains some indirect evidence for the notion that
> radiation can enhance the growth of melanized microorganisms. For example,
> the melanotic fungus C. cladosporioides manifests radiotropism by growing in
> the direction of radioactive particles and this organism has become widely
> distributed in the areas surrounding Chernobyl since the nuclear accident in
> 1986 [7]. Both in the laboratory and in the field several other species of
> melanized fungi grew towards soil particles contaminated with different
> radionuclides, gradually engulfing and destroying those particles [35],
> [36]. In addition, there are recent reports that certain life forms can
> utilize non-conventional forms of energy - microbes in geothermal vents at
> the bottom of the ocean can harvest thermal radiation as an energy source
> [37] while some microorganisms living in mines exploit energy from
> radiolysis of water [38]. On the basis of these precedents and the results
> of this study we cautiously suggest that the ability of melanin to capture
> electromagnetic radiation combined with its remarkable oxidation-reduction
> properties may confer upon melanotic organisms the ability to harness
> radiation for metabolic energy. The enhanced growth of melanotic fungi in
> conditions of radiation fluxes suggests the need for additional
> investigation to ascertain the mechanism for this effect.

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1866175/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1866175/)

In particular the part about growing towards contaminated particles,
"engulfing and destroying" them, seems like a finding with enormous practical
potential.

~~~
peteradio
I too was fascinated by that statement. How does it destroy them? Is it
extracting energy faster than would be let off in vacuum? Or is it an
encapsulation?

~~~
logfromblammo
I presume that the fungi grow toward the source of radioactivity until they
engulf it, and it is not destroyed, but instead segregated and more easily
separable from the environment by bio-accumulation.

I.e. if you seed radioactive soil with radiotrophic fungi, wait a few years,
and then mechanically separate fungus from soil particles, the separated soil
would be less radioactive than it had been previously.

~~~
mac01021
Presumably, though, other surrounding places will be more radioactive than
before?

~~~
logfromblammo
The fungus itself will be more radioactive than background.

I don't believe neutron activation is significant anywhere on Earth outside
the containment of a fission reactor, power research facilities, or nuclear
bomb tests. So mostly, places slowly become less radioactive over time unless
you get radioactive particulates from one of the aforementioned sources, or
from a natural concentration, and release them into the environment somewhere.

Bio-accumulation can occur, such as the naturally radioactive potassium in a
banana, but that's just shifting around the radioactive materials already
present in the environment.

Wherever you dump the fungus, or the ashes of the fungus, will be more
radioactive than before. So a bio-remediation plan would likely grow fungus,
separate most of it from the soil, and allow the remaining fraction to regrow,
repeating as necessary. The separated fungus would be burned, and any
radioactive fractions removed from the exhaust gases and dissolved in liquid
or crystallized somehow. The ash would be vitrified into glass pellets.

And then it'd probably still be less radioactive than an asphalt parking lot.
But okay, seal it all up inside a drum and forget about it for 10000 years
anyway.

~~~
AstralStorm
You must have never went to a place with active radon gas venting... Or to the
mountains.

Of course significant is in eye of the beholder, but those places do exceed
typical background doses a lot.

~~~
logfromblammo
Uranium -> thorium -> radium -> radon -> ... -> lead is a natural decay chain
that does not typically activate other atoms to become unstable, so the decay
energy between uranium and lead represents all the radioactivity there will
ever be from that uranium. You can't predict exactly _when_ it will be
released, and because radon is a gas, you can't as easily predict _where_ it
will be released, but once you get to stable lead, it's done.

If you tack up a slab of any stable nucleus higher than iron on the nuclear
binding energy curve to the inside walls of a neutron chain-reaction reactor,
you can probably get it to absorb neutrons of the appropriate speed and become
unstable, promising future radioactivity with an amount of energy between its
current state and whatever its final decay product may be. That may be less
total energy than the difference between uranium and lead, but it probably
runs faster from start to finish than billions of years, and is probably more
energy than the absorbed neutron.

So aside from natural reactors, which mostly shut down a long time ago, the
only increases in radioactive potential are going to be from human-built
reactors. The radon is just moving primordial radioactive potential from where
the radium is, which is also where the uranium or thorium is, to wherever
heavier-than-air gases can accumulate. If you remove the radium, you stop
that. If you encapsulate the radium in a glass that traps gas, you stop that.

Mostly, we don't bother trying to remove trace amounts of uranium and other
radioactive isotopes from mineral resources, but if a fungus could do it
cheaply, it could make coal ash less dangerous to process and store.

------
ThouYS
If you're interested in funghi, I recommend Joe Rogans podcast with Paul
Stamets, funghi seem to be able to do many things:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPqWstVnRjQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPqWstVnRjQ)

~~~
Robin_Message
Ammusingly, Paul Stamets is the name of a scientist in the newest star trek
series. He is an astro-mycologist and apparently they named him for this real
scientist.

~~~
mirceal
the character is named after him.

~~~
resoluteteeth
The comment you are responding to says that.

~~~
cestith
So long as we're correcting people, no. The comment in question says
"apparently" the character was named after him. Someone replied that was in
fact the case. Then you came along and shamed the person for confirming it.

~~~
mirceal
for what is worth the parent comment I responded to was: "Ammusingly, Paul
Stamets is the name of a scientist in the newest star trek series." The
clarification was added afterwards, but who cares. if people want to downvote
me, go ahead :)

------
londons_explore
How fast do these fungi grow?

Might they be a future food source? Radioactive materials could be coated in
an inert material and made into pellets which would be easy to filter from the
final resulting food.

------
legulere
Meanwhile we use can use gamma radiation only by converting first to heat.

~~~
raverbashing
Really

Most of our "energy generation" is still based on 19th century physics

Sure heating stuff and turning water into steam is easy, but it might not be
the most efficient way of turning some sources into energy

~~~
nerdponx
This has always bothered me. To think that we can induce nuclear fission, but
then can't actually use the generated energy without boiling water and using
it to turn a turbine!

~~~
gameswithgo
Sometimes we just stumble onto a near ideal solution early. A chain on a cog
for a bike drive for instance. People keep trying other things but they are
all less efficient.

~~~
burfog
This is more efficient:

[https://www.digitaltrends.com/outdoors/ceramicspeed-
chainles...](https://www.digitaltrends.com/outdoors/ceramicspeed-chainless-
bike-drive/)

It's a shaft with a weird gear at the end. The gear teeth spin on ball
bearings.

~~~
layoutIfNeeded
According to whom? The manufacturer?

This company is known for selling snake oil products to amateur cyclists.

When I see this on Tour de France I’ll believe it.

~~~
8note
competitive cycling doesn't let racers use whatever setup they want for their
bikes.

if something is too good, like the really aerodynamic handlebars, they won't
be allowed

~~~
sliken
Aero is quite regulated. So you can't play with wheel size, or various non-
traditional bike designs. But other things seem like fair game, tweaks to
geometry, different bearing technologies, new bearing races, electric
shifting, disc brakes, etc.

The spirit of racing is that the race should be won largely by the best
bicyclist, not the best bicycle. I'd expect a more efficient transmission
would certainly be considered.

~~~
legulere
Disc brakes were also banned for pretty long.

~~~
sliken
Right, but aren't now. Progress is being made, fortunately mountain bikers
(and their organizations) are much more open to progress.

------
jaddood
I wonder if there's any possibility of genetically engineering the fungi and
using them to extract more energy from contaminated areas and nuclear waste as
a form of biofuel. That would be quite an interesting way to use nuclear
waste.

~~~
justinclift
If someone does this, _please_ name your gamma radiation absorbing fungi "The
Hulk". :)

~~~
muthas
...with the corresponding scientific name would be "Brucea Banneriolus".

------
lioeters
On a related note, I wanted to mention "mycoremediation", a "fungi-based
technology to decontaminate the environment" [0].

In particular, I learned in the wake of the Fukushima incident that the
mycologist Paul Stamets suggests an unusual plan to remove radioactive and
other pollutants from soil/land. [1]

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycoremediation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycoremediation)

[1] [https://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/using-fungi-
remediat...](https://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/using-fungi-remediate-
radiation-fukushima)

------
blauditore
Given the fact there's hardly any such radiation in the wild, does that mean
they evolved that ability just within a few decades? If so, that would be
quite astonishing as it seems pretty different from other biochemical
mechanisms (e.g. photosynthesis).

~~~
Hendrikto
Humans did not invest radioactive decay. We merely discovered it.

~~~
blauditore
Of course, but the radiation caused by artificial reactors (and their
leftovers) is magnitudes higher than anything in the wild.

------
rezmason
I'm surprised no one here has mentioned the post-apocalyptic platformer,
Mushroom 11. Radiotrophic fungus lends a lot of credence to a game where you
guide a mycelial glob through the remains of a nuked landscape.

