Chernobyl mold could protect the ISS

Whole title.

"Self-replicating Chernobyl mold could protect the ISS from space radiation"

An interesting development to say the least.
In experiments the fungi blocked 2% of the radiation. Not really a total stoppage but encouraging enough for further study.
Astronauts on the ISS get 20 times more radiation exposure than people on earth and that's with the earth's magnetic field still protecting the station.

"A new study, yet to undergo peer review, was published on the pre-print repository bioRxiv on July 17 and examines one of these species, Cladosporium sphaerospermum. It suggests the fungi could be used as a self-healing, self-replicating shield to protect astronauts in deep space. Specialist science publication New Scientist reported on the findings on July 24."


Humans are not going to leave the planet and thrive without development of new technologies to stop radiation and grow food. As of today anyone going to Mars is going to die an agonizing death.

www.cnet.com...

a reply to: Bluntone22

I keep picturing a real life remake of The Blob once this thing falls back to earth somewhere in Pennsylvania.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

youtu.be...

I saw this somewhere else yesterday.

Apparently the fungi literally EAT radiation.

a reply to: Lucidparadox

That's pretty much what plants do by using chlorophyll and sunlight so it's not a big stretch.

Chemical reactions.

Nature finds a way.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Pretty cool discovery, if they unlock the fungus secret some day a future generation may see solar radiation powered organic ship's that east asteroid's and excrete the high quality stuff for our use, grown radiation devouring space habitat's colonizing and orbiting the ring's of Saturn.

OR more mundane but ground breaking organism's that could devour our nuclear waste products and clean up the planet, I can think of a certain eroding dome left by the US on a certain eroding pacific reef that could certainly do with some of that lovin.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Yeah, nature finds a way. It survives everything like that bacterial biofilm on my teeth and lyme disease bacteria.
Fkn nature is hard to kill

a reply to: PapagiorgioCZ

It's about perspective.
99.9% of all life on this planet is extinct but for some reason humans think they are immune.

Life will find a way but not necessarily human life.