Scientists Discover Radiation-Eating Fungi

Fungi exist in an unusual realm of the biological spectrum. Although most are microbial, they play an important part of the food chain. Fungi consume a lot of the waste materials that animals and plants leave behind, in essence becoming the ultimate clean-up crew. They can digest animals' carcasses and tree stumps. Common forms of fungi that we humans eat are mushrooms, although mushrooms are by no means the most abundant fungi.

From research spanning more than five years, scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have uncovered a startling truth about certain forms of fungi. Their data shows that three distinct types of microbial fungi actually eat radioactive emissions. The research began when Dr. Casadevall, a faculty member at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, heard that several samples of fungi were extracted from the still highly radioactive reactors at Chernobyl after the meltdown. These fungi were rich in melanin, the chemical that causes your skin to have pigment. Dr. Casadevall conjectured that the fungi were feeding off of the radioactive emissions that the reactors were giving off.

Casadevall and his crew of researchers then began to test his theories by using three genetically different forms of fungi, taking four different cellular growth measurements. All of their studies consistently showed that radiation speeds up the growth of the fungi, meaning that the fungi were somehow utilizing the radiation for cellular growth. Dr. Casadevall then pondered as to what could be allowing the fungi to absorb the radiation, his hypothesis being the melanin. In later tests, he again used different types of fungi, one of which naturally containing melanin, one genetically enhanced to contain melanin, and the other not containing melanin. Again, the fungi grew at enormous rates, but only those that had the melanin in them, confirming Dr. Casadevall's suspicions.

After these tests were over, Dr. Casadevall also thought that the melanin in humans might perform similarly. His ran several tests involving electron spin resonance signaling, all of which showed that radiation interacts with melanin on a subatomic level, shifting melanin's electrons around. This shifting of electrons is essential to converting radiation to another energy source, which has been proven in previous experiments. This means that the melanin in humans actually does create some sort of usable energy from the sun's mild radiation, although it isn't enough to run road race with. In fact, the energy is so little, according to Dr. Casadevall, that if you blink, you've already used it.

Ultimately, these melanin-containing fungi can be used as an inexhaustible source of food for astronauts on particularly long space missions. Because so much radiation is present in outer space, the fungi will continually grow a never ending supply of energy.

Note: This article has been adapted from a report by www.SpaceDaily.com