#radiosynthesis

The Chernobyl exclusion zone may be off-limits to humans, but not to every form of life. Ever since the Unit Four reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded nearly 40 years ago, other kinds of life-forms have not only moved in but survived, adapted, and appeared to thrive. Part of that may be the lack of humans… but for one organism, at least, the ionizing radiation lingering inside the reactor's surrounding structures may be an advantage. There, clinging to the interior walls of one of the most radioactive buildings on Earth, scientists have found a strange black fungus curiously living its best life. That fungus is called Cladosporium sphaerospermum, and some scientists think its dark pigment – melanin – may allow it to harness ionizing radiation through a process similar to the way plants harness light for photosynthesis. This proposed mechanism is even referred to as radiosynthesis.