Chernobyl’s Radiation-Thriving Fungus Surprises Scientists
My Modern Met••science
Key Points:
- Scientists have found a melanin-rich black fungus, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, thriving inside the highly radioactive ruins of Chernobyl’s reactor, where most life cannot survive.
- This fungus may use a process called radiosynthesis, potentially converting harmful ionizing radiation into chemical energy to support its growth, although this mechanism remains unproven.
- The fungus’s ability to flourish in extreme radiation challenges existing beliefs about the limits of life and suggests a remarkable biological adaptation to one of Earth’s most hostile environments.
- While full confirmation of radiation-based energy conversion is pending, the presence of this fungus symbolizes a slow, natural recovery in an area once marked by human disaster.
- The melanin pigment in the fungus
