Comment by mrweasel
4 hours ago
I wonder if you could power something of this? If the fungus have some type of melanin that will turn ionized radiation into energy, could we then use that to power something of background radiation?
Also interesting to see how close this fungi will grow to the radiation source, or will it be able to mutate to completely envelop the radiation source.
Just dry the fungus and burn it. The process is fairly analogous to photosynthesis in plants, so we've basically already been doing this since we learned to make fire, just with a different source of radiation.
That would be fun on a space craft. Steam power spacecraft, powered by burning mushrooms.
Humans become interstellar species.
Energy source is still heated water.
And the mushrooms would be powered by cosmic radiation...
I had the same thought, I wonder if we could make better solar cells?