can we stop using the word quietly!? I am so quietly sick of hearing the word quietly in every god damn sentence I see
Could you type this a bit quieter?
Upvoted quietly cause cat.
Sorry, but the fungus has been burping and slurping on radiation.
I am SLAMMED that your are quietly sick of hearing quietly.
I am silent screaming at your quiet comment that SLAMMED me.
According to the article there exists no evidence that it actually synthesis energy from the radiation. The title is a flat out lie. It is a hypothesis with zero evidence.
Also, it claims melanin that makes it dark, like our skin, is part of the synthesis, but an easier explanation is that it is there to protect against radiation, just like how melanin in our skin protects us from solar radiation.
The whole idea of “radio-synthesis” is pseudoscientific bullshit with nothing to back it up.
Unfortunately science alert has had shitty click bait titles for years.
I disagree - there’s a massive corpus of science fiction behind it. Protomolecule!!
It would be more interesting if it was noisily feasting on radiation
I wonder if theres a possibility to line a spaceship haul with this stuff to protect from cosmic radiation.
It’s an interesting thought, but according to the article, it’s not even clear that the fungus is absorbing radiation or befitting from radiation. Actual photosynthesis-via-radiation hasn’t been demonstrated; it might simply be taking advantage of the absence of other species due to high radiation, or the radiation is triggering a stress response.
Beyond that, I’m not sure this fungus would have a better protection-per-ton rating than, say, water (which is an astoundingly good radiation shield). But, it might point us towards ways of developing plants which are radiation-tolerant, theoretically opening a path to growing food in orbital or lunar-surface environments.
