Proof of evolution ?

Detailing the research in Public Library of Science ONE, AEC's Arturo Casadevall said his interest was piqued five years ago when he read about how a robot sent into the still-highly-radioactive Chernobyl reactor had returned with samples of black, melanin-rich fungi that were growing on the ruined reactor's walls. "I found that very interesting and began discussing with colleagues whether these fungi might be using the radiation emissions as an energy source," explained Casadevall.

full article here www.scienceagogo.com...

this article shows that fungi in Chernobyl can actually absorb radiation can turn it into food. fungi might originally have this ability but could everything else or is it evolution which these fungus have adapted to the radioactive environment ?

this article shows that how now chernobyl is a thriving ecosystem with some rare endangered species inhabiting it and every one of them have dangerous
radioactive substance.

“Though Chernobyl is widely considered the worst environmental disaster in history, the Zone’s evacuation has – paradoxically – allowed nature to flourish. Nature barely notices radiation – at least the type and levels of radiation Chernobyl released. Human activities are far more damaging. In a way, we are the environmental disaster,” says Mycio. Ten years after the disaster, Mycio discovered a wilderness teeming with large animals, even more than before the nuclear disaster, with many of them members of rare and endangered species. Like the forests, fields and swamps of this burgeoning wilderness, everything is radioactive, and will be for the next 400,000 years. Packed into the muscles and bones of every animal inhabitant is Cesium-137 and strontium-90 respectively. But, quite astonishingly, they are thriving. Chernobyl’s flourishing new ecosystem is:

full article here
www.scienceagogo.com...
Is this proof that evolution is no longer just a theory but a fact ? or is it already a fact ?

[edit on 4-10-2007 by a-stupid-dvd-case]

maybe i should change title to chernobyl radioactive eating fungus ?

It sounds like a possible mutation? Like I often say Im no expert but Chernobyl + radiation eating fungus = eventual world domination by glowing man eating fungus people?! lol jk

It's just adaptation [, unless these can be defined as new species that did not previously exist... that would be evolution].

Regardless, cool. It would be interesting to see if the fungus could in turn be used to create energy. We could turn radioactive waste into a source of power.


[edit on 4-10-2007 by apc]

Originally posted by a-stupid-dvd-case
maybe i should change title to chernobyl radioactive eating fungus ?

Yes, I have not seen one post even trying to relate to your title. Normally I don't have to make my own inferences.

i dont know why but it seems like human cant adapt... probably because humans are now so dependent of technology they lose their abilities.

reply to post by a-stupid-dvd-case


"A Human" can't adapt like this, but the human species can, and does. It's just that human adaptation happens so slowly because of our relatively long life span.

Fungi are continuously putting out the next generation of fungi. That next generation may have a mutation that allows them to flourish in the harsh (radioactive) environment...The fungi without the mutation die off, while the ones with the mutation live on to give birth to the next generation (and that generation would have the mutation passed on to them). This happens quickly in plants, fungi, insects, and some animals. The span between human generations is about 20-30 years, so human adaptation is a much longer process.

The answer is easy, No. Mutations don't reproduce. The Fungi and
other organisms simply survived the ordeal.

I don't know if this has anything to do with the fungi, but I know alot of cancer cells survive radiation treatments and finally kill some humans. How does this happen?, or is radiation just deadly to humans more than any other species? This isn't proof of evolution though.

It's a fact, not a theory

Evolution, that is. This has been known for almost 200 years.

There is an overwhelming weight of evidence for evolution. The most recent and compelling comes from molecular biology, but the evidence from ethology, paleontology and a host of other sciences is nearly as compelling.

We see viruses and bacteria evolving in real time, insects almost as fast. Evolution has even been artificially induced - in bacteria.

Even the clincher - species splitting apart so that the two resulting forms can no longer produce viable offspring by mating with each other - has been observed.

The 'theory' is natural selection, the explanation Darwin developed to explain evolution. Here is a childishly simple explanation of how natural selection works. It's pretty much common sense once someone explains it to you. The thing is, it took a genius like Charles Darwin to think of it in the first place.

(Well, two geniuses - we mustn't forget that Wallace came up with it independently).