this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2024
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Godel proved you can't prove anything. Don't think about it too hard.

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[–] pressanykeynow@iusearchlinux.fyi 51 points 9 months ago

How do you know it's close to the end? Simple: just swallow plutonium dioxide and it sure will be.

[–] synapse1278@lemmy.world 29 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 64 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (5 children)

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%20fungi%20are%20fungi%20that,the%20Chernobyl%20Nuclear%20Power%20Plant.

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.

[–] FlihpFlorp@lemm.ee 20 points 9 months ago

I don’t think I had this one on my apocalypse bingo sheet

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 9 points 9 months ago

Oh cool so we have protomolecule now?

[–] Zipitydew@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 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 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 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.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

So theoretically, there could be organisms living on the surface of the sun?

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 6 points 9 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 points 9 months ago

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

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 17 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Wouldn't swallowing plutonium dioxide be the reason you end?

[–] SasquatchBanana@lemmy.world 18 points 9 months ago (2 children)

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 12 points 9 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

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Where do I procure said balloon if I'm lying in a hospital bed at the end of my days?

[–] meliaesc@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Keep one in your pocket at all times.

[–] Setarkus@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago

Either way, it'll be shortly before the end. You can't lose this one :D

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

Or pay the graveyard to spray Roundup around your grave. That's probably the easier of the two.

[–] niktemadur@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

An ideal last prank for all you Andy Kaufman-types out there.

[–] Usernameblankface@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Companies that make sealed concrete vaults would like a word with you

[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 1 points 9 months ago

My plan was always to eat a bunch of gunpowder and ask to be cremated.