Radiated mushrooms: A source of alternative energy?
This one is too easy to pass up, so let's get it out of the way right off the bat: I don't mean the kind of mushrooms which became popular back in the '70s. What we have here are new kinds of mushrooms that are growing in the wild in radiation filled areas, like that near Chernobyl. The fungi apparently uses melanin, the same pigment which colors our skin, as a way to convert the radiation to energy, much like most plants use photosynthesis to grow. According to Ekaterina Dadachova, this process is an alternative to photosynthesis, "with melanin playing the role of chlorophyll and ionizing radiation; the role of visible light." Researchers can see ways that this fungi could provide alternative forms of energy as well as ridding the world of that pesky nuclear waste problem. First algae, now mushrooms from mushroom clouds. What's next? This world is a crazy place, huh?
Source: Technology Review]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John Rowell 1:14AM (6/08/2007)
O.o this is great news if it can be proven true! A natural way to clean up radiation while generating energy! Incredible!
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Owen 8:25AM (6/08/2007)
Wow, this could be huge.
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Tim 11:21AM (6/08/2007)
Somebody has been sampling the mushrooms again.
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louisquasha 4:54PM (6/08/2007)
Plants use light in their metabolic processes, but the sun burns bright in the sky whether plants exist or not. These fungi might use radiation, but they're not actually destroying the nuclear waste.
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mark 6:35AM (6/11/2007)
When plants use light in the "metabolic" process, they convert the light energy into a chemical form, thus disposing of the light..... If you convert radiation energy into chemical energy, you have "used up" some of the radiation energy by converting it to another form. It doesn't remove the waste, but it could be used to absorb the radiation in a safer way.
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