Fungus in Chernobyl nuclear disaster zone has mutated to 'feed' on radiation (2024)

It had to be fucking fungus

Apparently trees used to lay fallen on the ground for millions (?) of years before fungus evolved to eat them, and since then there has been no new coal.

(I may be wildly off on the specifics but that is the gist I got from reading stuff here and there)

I swear fungi are the coolest and most "alien" lifeforms on this planet next to cephalopods ଳ

Or they're the original and we're the alien

Fungi existed before plants, and definitely before plants evolved to the point of being what we'd consider trees. In fact, we find large fungi fossils that once likely lined the landscape like trees do now.

Just fact checked this. TIL, for some reason I thought plants came before fungi.

I think idea was that fungi for some time couldn't consume lignin in fallen trees.