Scientists have known for decades the affects that the Chernobyl disaster had on humans and their pets. Recently however, they have extended this to plants and have made some fascinating discoveries.
They compared Soya bean plants in the fallout area to those hundreds of kilometres off. They discovered that those within the fallout area expressed higher levels of protein associated with resistance to heavy metal and radiation poisoning.
This has great importance to human's endeavour to populate other planets. In outer space there is afar higher levels of rediation and it would seem that these Chernobyl plants could be the ideal choice to withstand such conditions. This is particularly important as the degradation of the Earth's bioshphere is increasing rapidly.
By Lachlan Harris
Retrieved from..New Scientist Website 17th May
