Strange Chernobyl dark fungus may ‘eat’ radiation and even help astronauts in spaceBy Ben Cost
Published Dec. 1, 2025
This dark discovery is breaking the mold.
Scientists have discovered an unlikely ally in the battle to clean up Chernobyl’s radiation zones — the black mold that thrives in them.
A research team found that the fungi not only adapted to a radioactive environment, but actually fed off it like something out of a “Marvel” origin story, the BBC reported.
If this is true, the deadly substance — radiation — could also be one of the more unlikely building blocks of life.
The groundbreaking research was set in motion in 1997 after Ukrainian microbiologist Nelli Zhdanova embarked on a field expedition in the ruins of the Nuclear Power Plant near Prypiat, Ukraine, which, just eleven years earlier, had been the site of the worst nuclear accident in history.
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2025/12/01/science/radiation-eating-mold-could-help-clean-up-nuclear-sites-protect-astronauts/
