Explore the Natural Methods of Selection

The University of Extremadura recently published research covering the connections between fungi and radiation.

They uncovered that fungi can detect and measure the amount of radiation in the air and soil.

The team measured the amount of radionuclides, (an atom that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable) within mushrooms in Europe.

Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory of the University of Extremadura (LARUEX) and Science Daily reported on the author’s point of view:

“This quantification is made using transfer coefficients that compare the radioactive content in the receptor compartment of the radioactive contamination, that is to say in the fungi, to that existing in the transmitter compartment, which in this case would be the soil.” – Javier Guillén

Research citation:

University of Extremadura. “Fungi can be used as biomonitors for assessing radioactivity in our environment: This is the main conclusion of the study carried out by the UEx Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 July 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170713154917.htm>.

The YouTube video below shows a visual perspective of the correlations between radiation and fungi.

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