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Fungus in Chernobyl nuclear disaster zone has mutated to 'feed' on radiation (2024)
- datadrivenangel 1y agoLife finds a way. We're going to see an increase in plastic metabolizing bacteria as well, so eventually our plastics will 'rust' and degrade faster.
- chistev 1y agoI was going to ask about plastic eating microbes in my comment. Even metal eating microbes. I wonder how we'll handle that when they start destroying the foundation of civilization. Lol
- freehorse 1y agoWe will invent something to kill them, as usual.
- cyberlimerence 1y agoOnly if antibiotic resistant bacteria don't kill us first.
- chistev 1y agoAlways trust humans when united
- datadrivenangel 1y agoTo a large extent, it probably won't be too bad because the density of plastics is still low in the general environment. If there are steep energy gradients, eventually life tends to take advantage of them. Also there's the risk that we accidentally release some genetically modified bacteria and they prove to be hardier than expected.
- dilawar 1y agoI few months ago I learnt something related that may be a common knowledge to many here. I feel silly that I didn't know. Earth had a plastic like problem before. There were no fungi that eat cellulose so dead trees were just piling up without degrading. Those trees turned into ~petroleum~ coal that we consume now. That trees somehow turned into ~petroleum~ coal, I learnt in school. I used to imagine trees were somehow buried under stand suddenly and before they could be degraded they turned into ~petroleum~ coal under heavy pressure.
- lucianbr 1y agoFunny, we make plastics from petroleum, so it looks like some particular carbon atoms just don't want to go back in the circuit.
- chistev 1y agoYou mean coal. Petroleum was from the dead animals from millions of years ago.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- observationist 1y agoAlgae and phytoplankton, but mostly algae. Not large creatures, generally. You'd get massive blooms with phyto/zoo plankton die-offs, they'd settle, then get buried in sand and sediment. Over centuries and millenia, you'd get cyclic deposits, creating massive accumulations, and then over geologic timeframes, you get pockets of striated deposits of these decomposing materials in high heat and pressure conditions. Once the deposits liquefy, they all flow into a common area. Depending on the conditions and chemistry, you can get coal from ancient algal sources, but you can't get petroleum / liquid oil from ancient forests - the chemistry doesn't work out. You need lots of water and heat and pressure, single cell structures. Lots of cellulose and lignin means you don't get the liquefaction and mixing, forcing the material to carbonize and compress instead.
- rpdillon 1y ago
- amelius 1y agoWe might soon need silicon-eating microbes.
- HPsquared 1y agoVery hard to do because silicon dioxide (aka quartz / glass) forms an inert physical barrier to prevent further oxidation. Kinetics and diffusion say no!
- johnisgood 1y agoCan you elaborate on this? Nothing could get through that barrier? Like is it impossible for fungi to do that?
- throwanem 1y agoHF-secreting microorganisms with a tropism for a material extremely common in the human environment? No way that could go wrong.
- johnisgood 1y agoI'm not asking if it could go "wrong", which is a matter of perspective though.
- amelius 1y agoI guess you can see it can't work because glass is typically the material used by scientists to contain microbes.
- johnisgood 1y agoYeah, I just wonder if it is entirely impossible, or there MAY be a way, even if theoretically (so far). Or is it like "it certainly can never happen"?
- maplant 1y agoI’m not even remotely close to knowledgeable on this subject but I assume metal eating microbes are not possible because metals are not molecular and therefore there’s nothing for them to be broken down into
- chistev 1y agoWhy is this being down voted? It's a question?
- benchly 1y agoThis was my take for a short story I banged out one week after reading about the metal-eating microbes. Basically, humanity was all "three cheers for these little guys helping us fix all the pollution, etc" then shifting to "huh, that's an awful lot of changes happening to the gas content of the air and oh, didn't you corporate guys who sold us these solutions say you had these microbes under control? Oh, you did? But...like past tense?" I read too much dystopian sci-fi to write much else, but in truth, I have pretty high hopes for these garbage-eating microbes.
- fwip 1y agoWhen I was younger, I picked up a copy of "Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters"[0] at a used book sale. While the book itself was rather shlocky, I always thought the premise was very compelling. From memory; a scientist created a breed of bacteria that could digest a special food-like plastic, which was accidentally released, but sporulated as their special food source could not be found in the environment. Decades later, a product company introduced "bio-degradable" plastic for greener packaging, which happened to be similar enough to their original food source that the bacteria were able to feed on it. Unfortunately for humanity, plastic itself was also much more widely distributed in the current year, and the bacteria was able to make the jump from eating this plastic to eating "any" plastic. (For added drama, this process also resulted in the release of explosive gases - methane, maybe?) Also perhaps related, I also picked up The Last Gasp[1] at the same book sale, another speculative sci-fi about global warming. It was very influential on my preteen mind. [0]: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2368220.Mutant_59 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2368220.Mutant_59 [1]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1685500.The_Last_Gasp https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1685500.The_Last_Gasp
- benchly 1y agoThanks for sharing! I will have to check out The Last Gasp. Heck of a title, that. The reviews seem to paint it as something that's up my particular alley.
- shagie 1y ago> We're going to see an increase in plastic metabolizing bacteria as well https://big.ucdavis.edu/blog/plastic-eating-microbe https://big.ucdavis.edu/blog/plastic-eating-microbe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PETase https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PETase November 4th : https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/11/251104013023.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/11/251104013023.h... > Beneath the ocean’s surface, bacteria have evolved specialized enzymes that can digest PET plastic, the material used in bottles and clothes. Researchers at KAUST discovered that a unique molecular signature distinguishes enzymes capable of efficiently breaking down plastic. Found in nearly 80% of ocean samples, these PETase variants show nature’s growing adaptation to human pollution.
- perihelions 1y agoAlso an HN thread, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45886479 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45886479 ("Widespread distribution of bacteria containing PETases across global oceans (oup.com)"—1 day ago, 72 comments) (The new $300 iPhone thong is made of PET (polyester), so, it's reassuring to know the universe does have the capability to unmake those).
- ilt 1y agoThong… omg haha
- nielsbot 1y agoHaha but pedantically it’s a correct use of the word :) > A narrow strip of material, typically leather, used to fasten, bind, or secure objects. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thong https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thong
- perihelions 1y agoPendantically, too.
- 1y ago
- raverbashing 1y agoIt does find, though last time evolution took some million years to figure out how to break polymers. (That period is known as the Carboniferous period)
- krige 1y agoWell, good thing it had a head start now.
- jijijijij 1y agoI think this is a fallacious expectation. For most environments, I don't see why there would be selective pressure towards plastic degradation. That is, "burning" plastic as fuel would likely require the absence of an alternative. Obviously this hasn't happened with coal or oil, although those are energy dense fuels. There are already organisms which have the enzymatic means for the break down of some plastics. Given the omnipresence of plastic pollution, if there was selective pressure, we would probably have seen some specialization already. Especially for microbes. It took a looong time before fungi were able to breakdown lignin. Before that, the only thing removing dead trees was fire. So... there is a good chance we are going to see shit all. Especially on land.
- spwa4 1y agoWhat's weird is that this is based on melanin, and how fast it happened. Doeswould seem at least likely that this is life digging up an old recipe rather than coming up with something new. Melanin can usefully absorb high-energy gamma rays ... that means there must have been a period, long enough, in earth's history where high energy gamma rays were easy to come by. That could only have been on land, or in the very top layer of the ocean (because they don't pass through water). So where in earth's history do we have a period where a large landmass had sufficient wattage in high energy gamma rays? Or at the very least a lot of UV rays, enough to damage/kill normal life. Such a place would otherwise have been very unhealthy for almost all life, as it destroys DNA.
- Razengan 1y agoIt had to be fucking fungus Apparently trees used to lay fallen on the ground for millions (?) of years before fungus evolved to eat them, and since then there has been no new coal. (I may be wildly off on the specifics but that is the gist I got from reading stuff here and there) I swear fungi are the coolest and most "alien" lifeforms on this planet next to cephalopods ଳ Or they're the original and we're the alien
- Rooster61 1y agoFungi existed before plants, and definitely before plants evolved to the point of being what we'd consider trees. In fact, we find large fungi fossils that once likely lined the landscape like trees do now.
- junon 1y agoJust fact checked this. TIL, for some reason I thought plants came before fungi.
- codesnik 1y agoI think idea was that fungi for some time couldn't consume lignin in fallen trees.
- Razengan 1y ago[flagged]
- Akronymus 1y agoLichens pretty much were what created the first terrestrial organic material. Which in turn became soil for mosses which then built up the soil layer more and so on Pretty neat.
- Rooster61 1y agoI mean, this isn't THAT surprising. Photosynthesis after all is just radiosynthesis of electromagnetic radiation in the visible or near visible spectrum. Gamma radiation is the same phenomenon, just with a far higher frequency and enough energy to ionize molecules. The chemical process obviously has to differ considering gamma radiation has enough energy to knock off electrons, but once you deal with that, it's energy ripe for the taking. I'm not shocked that life finds a way to harness that energy where abundant. In fact, had life come about on an Earth with a weaker magnetic field, it may have relied more on gamma radiation than visible light, especially considering the larger potential amount of consumable energy present in gamma rays.
- rdtsc 1y agoFound a paper on it: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1866175/pdf/pone.0000457.pdf https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1866175/pdf/pone.00... > 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.
- ge96 1y agoSpace shield?
- 0cf8612b2e1e 1y agoIn the Expanse books, space colonies would consume algae. Using some alien woo-woo, they engineered one with a superior yield because it could supplement its inputs with radiation.
- throwup238 1y agoIn the short lived HBO comedy Avenue 5 the ship was surrounded by a “poop shield” that used human excrement as a radiation shield. Someone forgot to vent the system and it burst, sending feces flying in a small orbit around the ship. Later on, one of the characters sees the face of Pope John Paul II in the poop and the owner of the spaceship (who was supposed to be played by Jack Black but instead Josh Gad ruined the entire series) sends up a laser light show to illuminate the dookies in space.
- JoachimS 1y agoThe book Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir this is exactly what they do - have a layer of the bacteria (which is integral to the plot) between the hull and where the humans lived. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Hail_Mary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Hail_Mary Good, fun book. The main protagonists are a bit too inventive and quick to do solve, fix things. But in all fairness it's SF after all.
- lo_zamoyski 1y agoContent aside, it would be better if we avoided sources like UNILAD [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNILAD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNILAD
- wonks 1y agoI'm honestly disappointed that this post got so much attention with such a dubious source. The article doesn't even link to a press release, as far as I can tell.
- tokai 1y agoIt gives both the full name of fungus and the name of a researcher plus his affiliation. More information than you often get fore more 'reputable' sources. Criticizing something only on the basis of the source, while the actual content is completely fine, is peak cargo cult information literacy.
- softwaredoug 1y agoThis sounds like a plot point in Project Hail Mary. Which has a microbe that lives off the sun, creating problems, and new technologies.
- happymellon 1y ago> a microbe that lives off the sun Like algae?
- mejutoco 1y ago> lives off the sun, creating problems, and new technologies. It sounds like humans, from the description. Not sure if that was the joke.
- renewiltord 1y agoThis is a bit of a spoiler but in the book, the astrophage sits on the Sun and eats it.
- happymellon 1y agoAh!
- softwaredoug 1y agoYeah I should have clarified. Like DIRECTLY on the sun :) It's not much of a spoiler, but the main problem of the book is a microbe consuming the suns radiation and robbing Earth of sunlight.
- deepvibrations 1y agoWow, this is impressive. It's also the exact storyline from the animated series 'Common Side Effects', a really good series that feels more like watching a feature film.
- drunkonvinyl 1y agoThe protomolecule???
- Razengan 1y agoConsider the sci-fi trope of "mutants" resulting from existing animals exposed to radiation, I think it may be more common and likely for just the "microbiome" like fungi and bacteria to mutate instead and then that could affect the macro fauna in new ways.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- tempfile 1y agoI assume it does not need to be mentioned that this does NOT "clean up" nuclear waste. It just means that the constant energy emitted by it can be harnessed by these fungi. The radioactive material will remain hazardous for the same amount of time as if the fungi did not exist.
- HelloNurse 1y agoFungi "eating" radioactive materials would disperse them to some extent, making the contamination problem worse.
- matthewfcarlson 1y agoIf I had a chunk of uranium but it was covered in an algae that absorbed all radiation out of the chunk, isn’t it much faster? As the effects of the uranium is largely mitigated.
- Akronymus 1y agoAt most it'd act as a form of shielding, pretty sure. Even if it were to incorporate the uranium, the "best" effect you'd get is diffusion of the chunk.
- tempfile 1y ago> isn't it much faster No. Radioactive materials decay at the same rate no matter what you do to them. > the effects of the uranium is largely mitigated Very different from decaying faster. It's possible that by covering it in algae you block the radiation from escaping. But the algae is still going to have to sit there for 10000 years without moving before the waste is decayed. You're better off sticking it inside lead.
- astroflection 1y agohttps://archive.is/SGbVB https://archive.is/SGbVB
- gorfian_robot 1y agothey should spread some in fuel rod storage pools to see how it does
- dang 1y agoRelated. Others? A Black Fungus Might Be Healing Chernobyl by Drinking Radiation - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43148355 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43148355 - Feb 2025 (10 comments) Fungus at Chernobyl absorbs nuclear radiation via radiosynthesis - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24166994 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24166994 - Aug 2020 (104 comments) Radiotrophic fungus - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20342750 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20342750 - July 2019 (63 comments) Chernobyl Fungus Feeds On Radiation (2007) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6763520 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6763520 - Nov 2013 (53 comments) Black Fungus Found in Chernobyl Eats Harmful Radiation - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=127626 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=127626 - March 2008 (1 comment)
- gsibble 1y agoWe've known this for 40 years? Why is it news today?
- physarum_salad 1y agoAh yes unilad a great repository of rigorous scientific results haha. There's a lot of complexity in fungal physiology and research has barely scratched the surface.
- tim333 1y agoIt may have mutated to deal with radiation but radiation friendly organisms have been around for millions of years. Desulforudis audaxviator lives miles underground living on radioactive decay products. >As the environment at that depth is so much like the early Earth, it may indicate what types of organisms existed before there was an oxygen atmosphere. Billions of years ago, some of the planet's first bacteria may have thrived in similar conditions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desulforudis_audaxviator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desulforudis_audaxviator