Chernobyl plant life endures radioactivity
Scientists have uncovered mechanisms that allow plants to thrive in highly radioactive environments like Chernobyl.
They analysed seeds from soybean and flax grown near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor which exploded in 1986.
The team says that plants may have an innate ability to cope with radioactivity.
The study appears in the Environmental Science and Technology journal.
One of the researchers speculates that such mechanisms could trace back millions of years, when early life forms were exposed to higher levels of natural radiation.
'Worst' accident
If a disaster strikes, plants cannot move to better conditions - they either adapt, or die.
When, on 26 April, 1986, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, the accident was said to be the worst nuclear disaster in human history.
Scores of people died, hundreds became ill with acute radiation sickness.
The entire population of the industrial city of Pripyat that housed the power plant's workforce was evacuated.
Many believed that the area would remain lifeless for generations.
Almost a quarter of a century later, Pripyat remains a ghost town. But despite deserted streets, the soil is not bare - plants have sprung back to life.
Plants 'thriving'
The way Pripyat's ecosystem seemed to shrug off the contamination caught the attention of the scientific world and in 2005, the UN even published a report about the phenomenon....
Read entire article at BBC News
They analysed seeds from soybean and flax grown near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor which exploded in 1986.
The team says that plants may have an innate ability to cope with radioactivity.
The study appears in the Environmental Science and Technology journal.
One of the researchers speculates that such mechanisms could trace back millions of years, when early life forms were exposed to higher levels of natural radiation.
'Worst' accident
If a disaster strikes, plants cannot move to better conditions - they either adapt, or die.
When, on 26 April, 1986, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, the accident was said to be the worst nuclear disaster in human history.
Scores of people died, hundreds became ill with acute radiation sickness.
The entire population of the industrial city of Pripyat that housed the power plant's workforce was evacuated.
Many believed that the area would remain lifeless for generations.
Almost a quarter of a century later, Pripyat remains a ghost town. But despite deserted streets, the soil is not bare - plants have sprung back to life.
Plants 'thriving'
The way Pripyat's ecosystem seemed to shrug off the contamination caught the attention of the scientific world and in 2005, the UN even published a report about the phenomenon....