Re: Life can eat ionizing radiation!



On May 23, 2:04 pm, bal...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
I've found something in the news that, if confirmed, is so important
that deserves a discussion:

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Radiation_Eating_Fungi_Could_Change...

In brief, it seems that melanine in fungii transforms ionizing
radiation in chemical energy...just like chlorophyll does with visible
light. Melanine rich fungii grows up much faster if exposed to
radiations. Other details in the article i linked.

Terrestrial life is still full of surprises!

This is indeed exciting news, particularly in combination with super-
efficient DNA repair mechanisms (as known from _Deinococcus_
bacteria). I'll get going with designing some exciting alien
ecologies :)


- Organic compunds created by radiations, lighti (eg. Miller-Urey
experiment, It's a pity Stanley Miller has dead just 3 days ago,
before konwing about this. )


Stanley Miller is dead? :(

.



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