After the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, scientists expected to find a dead zone where almost nothing could survive. Instead, they found life that found ways to adapt and survive. One key example was a common black fungus called Cladosporium sphaerospermum.
Researchers had known about this fungus for more than a century, but its behavior at Chernobyl caught their attention. It didn’t just tolerate radiation. It appeared to grow toward it, colonizing surfaces where radiation levels were highest.
Cladosporium sphaerospermum and space
In a roundabout way, this is great news for astronauts. Space travel comes with a problem you cannot see in photos: radiation.
Outside Earth’s protective magnetic field, high-energy particles hit spacecraft and the people inside them. Those particles can damage DNA and raise long-term health risks.
Engineers can add shielding, but rockets charge a “weight tax” for every extra 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) you launch. Mission planners face that trade-off on deep-space trips.
Some researchers have started asking a different question. Could a living organism grow into a self-renewing radiation shield?
The idea focuses on a dark fungus called Cladosporium sphaerospermum, one of the “black” fungi that produce a lot of melanin.
In humans, melanin helps protect cells from ultraviolet light. In these fungi, scientists think melanin can also help reduce damage from ionizing radiation.
Ionizing radiation has enough energy to knock electrons off atoms and trigger damaging chemical reactions.
Some fungi found in very radioactive places on Earth even show “positive radiotropism,” meaning they seem to grow toward radiation.
Researchers also use the term “radiotrophy” for the broader idea that radiation might help power the organism’s metabolism, although that idea remains controversial and hard to prove.
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