• samus12345@lemmy.worldEnglish
    69·
    10 months ago

    But what if they cremate you? Better be safe and also swallow some mercury zinc batteries so your corpse will explode during cremation if they go that route.

  • Synapse@lemmy.world
    36·
    10 months ago

    What about the “weird black mold” ? Is this something real ? Like some radiation resistant mold that has been observed ?

    • cynar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      81·
      10 months ago

      It might not be related, but they’ve found mold inside the reactor room of Chernobyl. Apparently it’s evolved a chlorophyll like molecule that captures gamma radiation. It’s literally living of the energy that makes the environment lethal to almost anything else (organic or electronic).

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotrophic_fungus#:~:text=Radiotrophic fungi are fungi that,the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

      Edit. Just checked and it’s not confirmed how it’s growing. They do know it grows significantly faster in a high radiation environment. They haven’t pinned down the exact biological mechanism.

      Oh, and yes, it’s black in colour.

      • Zipitydew@sh.itjust.works
        4·
        10 months ago

        Badass. Was reading that thinking what about space applications. Sure enough there is a whole section on that in the wiki.

        Appreciate you sharing this. Was super interesting to read.

      • MonkderZweite@feddit.ch
        3·
        10 months ago

        Wasn’t there some bacteria found in an uranium mine, enclosed for millions of years, that lives off gamma radiation too?

        edit: yep. Those things could survive without the sun.

        • cynar@lemmy.worldEnglish
          6·
          10 months ago

          Unlikely. Biochemistry, as we know it, relies on a carbon-carbon backbone. That breaks down long before the temperatures on the sun’s main outer layers. The electrons get stripped off, and chemistry, as we know it, stops working.

        • BluesF@lemmy.world
          4·
          10 months ago

          Eating radiation is one thing, surviving those temperatures is another. I don’t even think tardigrades can survive that hot.

    • SasquatchBanana@lemmy.world
      22·
      10 months ago

      They’re saying if you are lying in a hospital bed with a terminal diagnosis at the end of your days you should swallow the balloon.

      • LesserAbe@lemmy.world
        151·
        10 months ago

        You’re right. Also from what little I understand about radiation seems like you might want to take some more definitive action too rather than give the polonium time to finish the job. It would probably be more unpleasant than however else you were going to die