You want Hulk fungi?
Because this is how you get Hulk fungi.
It's even approximately that shade of green.
this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2025
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It’s not the fungi we asked for, but it’s the fungi we deserve.
The thumbnail looks like a sphincter
!dontputyourdickinthat
Radiation turns you black, instead of green, who knew..
Does this fungus "eat" the radiation, as in we can use it to clean up radioactive areas? Cause that'd be nice.
Sadly, no. Radioactive processes happen without any external control (at least not on this level, they don't run a reactor or accelerator), and this fungus only harvests the energy.
Akin to how plants photosynthesize without doing anything to the sun.
At least there it does provide shade, though I doubt the fungus would provide a whole lot of shielding...
If it's absorbing the energy, then it's not passing through. That's shielding.
But like light shining through a plant's leaves, it probably doesn't absorb anywhere near all the energy, so probably not useful as actual shielding material.
But, like any shielding, the thickness matters. And if this stuff could also convert CO2 to oxygen, having a bunch would be a good thing.
It eats the radiation, not its source though. The emitter would have to be removed. Maybe it could be used in shielding ? Like in space where background radiation seems to be a problem.
It needs carbon to grow, so it would be a CO2 scrubber AND a source of food assuming it's edible. 🤔🤔🤔
I would not be eating something with a radioactive-based diet in space… that’s like 2 steps away from opening the gates of hell of something like that xD
bonus: you won't need eyes?
Damn that was a rough one
Fantastic thing though: It doesn't "eat" radiation in the sense that it becomes radioactive itself. It just absorbs the energy from the radiation, like plants absorb sunlight, to power a synthesis that lets it convert CO2 to organic material.
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Well if it just evolved this ability that suggests it found a unique niche. But it probably hasn't optimized this, since it doesn't have any pressure to compete against other organisms for the radiation source.
But the good news is that we could selectively breed the fungus, or even generically engineer it (once the genes are isolated) to maximize the ability much faster.
I don't know how useful it would be for site cleanup but it might at least become good insulation (like the idea of space station shielding mentioned in the article).
In the future, instead of shooting up shiny silver rockets, we'll be firing up rockets covered in gross mold.
Obviously you hide the gross fungi under a nice silvery façade. You don't compromise aesthetics in space or all the other stellar societies will laugh at us, and uninvite us from the quasar parties.
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Like everything nuclear, it's a double edge sword. Clearing up nuclear power would be amazing. People knowing they can Nuke something and eradicate the after effects quickly
You mean, digesting one of the dotzens of toxic Uran derivatives to thin air? I don't think so.
I for one welcome our melanin-pigmented overlords.
Can’t go worse than the spray tanned ones.
Life... uhhh...
The evidence that the fungi overlords will soon take over continues to mount...that's why I don't eat mushrooms...better safe than sorry...
I can't wait until we can lab-grow lignin, I'm talking 3D printed wood, mofuckas
Why would you want to take something that's cheap and make something that's wayy more expensive?
Because it won't be cheap when I escape into space
I love the idea of cracking methane brought in from Kuiper belt objects, and growing massive cubes of artificial wood with giant orbital solar arrays. In some future where this was possible, with a delivery system to the surface (maybe deorbiting into the ocean), we could theoretically curtail most deforestation on the planet.
Returns are gonna be rough when Home Depot Orbital/Galactic drops a huge stack of bent 2x4s from orbit directly into your backyard. "Just take them back where you bought them."
Having said that, "tree" satellites sound pretty cool.
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I should call her.
You should call her a doctor
Everything reminds me of him
What was it again. A bacteria in a pocket in some Uran mine, that directly uses radiation as energy source? Might be yet another mechanism.
So this is how the 40K Orks came to be! Makes sense.
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