THE CHERNOBYL nuclear wasteland is home to a life form so hardy that it thrives on radiation.
Since the Unit Four reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded nearly 40 years ago, the area has been off-limits to humans.
But this life form, a type of mould called Cladosporium sphaerospermum, seems to flourish in the presence of radiation.
It grows towards the reactor, on walls and ceilings, surviving in places thought too toxic for life.
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The fungus was found on the inside of one of the world’s most radioactive buildings.
While ionising radiation causes death, cancer and other illnesses in animals and humans, scientists think the rays might be feeding this bizarre mould.
Scientists think that Melanin, the pigment which causes its dark colour, might allow the fungus to use ionising radiation to create energy, in the same way that plants feed off sunlight.
The scientific term for this is radiosynthesis – and it might even be able to keep astronauts safe in space.
The life form was first found in the late 1990s by a team from the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, led by Nelli Zhdanova, undertook a field survey of the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
They found that not one, but 37 different species of fungus were living in the area, all of which were dark in colour.
Radiosynthesis is still just a theory, the idea that this mould can convert dangerous radiation into energy for growth.
But if the theory is proven, the mould could help shield space travellers from cosmic rays.
In December 2018, the unique mould was sent for testing at the International Space Station.
It grew even better in space, where galactic radiation proved no match for the mould.
Results are still not clear, but the findings may mean that the mould could help us live in space, using the fungus to protect astronauts from cosmic rays.
Mould is not the only lifeform thriving in Ukraine’s nuclear wasteland, however.
Wild wolves roaming the area have developed a ‘superpower’ after years of radiation exposure.
The mutant wolves seem to have developed genomes which are more resilient to cancer, researchers found last year.
It has also been suggested that the said the descendants of the pets of Chernobyl residents’ pets could have similar cancer-resilient genomes, but they are yet to be studied to the same extent as the wolves.
