Colored fungi soak up the rays

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dark-colored fungi devour radiation and convert
it to fuel, researchers said on Tuesday in a study that may offer
applications from more efficient solar cells to feeding astronauts in
space. ...

.... "Just as the pigment chlorophyll converts sunlight into chemical
energy that allows green plants to live and grow, our research
suggests that melanin can use a different portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum -- ionizing radiation -- to benefit the fungi
containing it," Dr. Ekaterina Dadachova of the Albert Einstein College
of Medicine in New York said in a statement. ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070523/...ation_fungi_dc


Life W/O sunlight. Always interesting ...

On May 24, 10:55 am, Raving wrote:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dark-coloredfungidevour radiation and convert
it to fuel, researchers said on Tuesday in a study that may offer
applications from more efficient solar cells to feeding astronauts in
space. ...

... "Just as the pigment chlorophyll converts sunlight into chemical
energy that allows green plants to live and grow, our research
suggests thatmelanincan use a different portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum -- ionizing radiation -- to benefit thefungi
containing it," Dr. Ekaterina Dadachova of the Albert Einstein College
of Medicine in New York said in a statement. ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070523/...ation_fungi_dc

Life W/O sunlight. Always interesting ...

Which suggests those 20-foot-tall fungus trees (http://
http://www.livescience.com/strangene...ry_fungus.html) that
existed before plants got a good foothold on the land were producing
their own food, not eating something else. Also suggests there wasn't
an ozone layer at the time.

Melanin in plants, animals, fungi. All eukaryotes? How about
archaea? Can be used to produce food ... this may predate
photosynthesis. And there's ionizing radiation in space. This ups
the probability that life on earth was seeded from space.

On May 24, 5:13 pm, wrote:
On May 24, 10:55 am, Raving wrote:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dark-coloredfungidevour radiation and convert
it to fuel, researchers said on Tuesday in a study that may offer
applications from more efficient solar cells to feeding astronauts in
space. ...

... "Just as the pigment chlorophyll converts sunlight into chemical
energy that allows green plants to live and grow, our research
suggests thatmelanincan use a different portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum -- ionizing radiation -- to benefit thefungi
containing it," Dr. Ekaterina Dadachova of the Albert Einstein College
of Medicine in New York said in a statement. ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070523/...ation_fungi_dc

Life W/O sunlight. Always interesting ...

Which suggests those 20-foot-tall fungus trees (http://www.livescience.com/strangene...ry_fungus.html) that
existed before plants got a good foothold on the land were producing
their own food, not eating something else. Also suggests there wasn't
an ozone layer at the time.

Melanin in plants, animals, fungi. All eukaryotes? How about
archaea? Can be used to produce food ... this may predate
photosynthesis. And there's ionizing radiation in space. This ups
the probability that life on earth was seeded from space.

Yes, I would agree with you.

It also suggests of life, living in space ... or more specifically,
'Space which has some interesting properties'; space that would not at
first glance be thought of as promulgating biological process.

Here is another thought. ...

Is it very significant ( in a galactic sized sense ) that life,
originated on earth or was seeded on earth?

Seems that it could have happened either way, here.

It would seem that there are many more places where biological process
could become established and developed wherein seeding would not be a
viable outcome.