Posted on 07/09/2020 7:07:14 PM PDT by BenLurkin
NASA says that astronauts can be exposed to doses of radiation ranging from 50 to 2,000 Milli-Sieverts (mSv). Researchers already know that melanin has potential to protect astronauts from radiation.
But there are different types of melanins. The one being tested on the ISS is actually a composite of fungal melanin and polymers. The lead researcher on that work is Radamés J.B. Cordero from Johns Hopkins.
But this new research is going in a slightly different direction, by looking at melanin enriched with selenium. Selenium has an interesting relationship with light, and is used as a pigment, in glassmaking, in x-ray detectors, and in solar cells. Clearly, somethings up with selenium when it comes to radiation.
Previous research has shown that selenium compounds can protect animals from x-rays. So the team behind the new work wondered if combining melanin with selenium would yield a new way of protecting astronauts.
Rather than spend who knows how long trying to find the compound somewhere in nature, they decided to make their own compounds in a lab. They synthesized a new biomaterial that theyre calling selenomelanin. They treated cells with the new material, alongside cells treated with synthetic pheomelanin and eumelanin. They also used cells with no protective melanin as a control group.
Only the cell treated with their synthesized selenomelanin showed any normal cell cycles.
The team also found out that unlike the samples sent to the ISS by a separate research team, which are expensive to produce, this teams selenomelanin can be bio-synthesized. That means that live cells can produce it when fed the right nutrients. And the biosynthesized selenomelanin retains its protective properties.
The team of researchers envisions a topical material like sun-screen, that can be applied to skin or materials for protection.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
That’s cool, I have seen some research on fthe radiation tolerance of mushrooms. It seems like a good area to research.
MLM
He might be on to something.
“Thats cool, I have seen some research on fthe radiation tolerance of mushrooms.”
Reminds me of an old Japanese SciFi flick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVyRYjJoZfc
So the black mold growing in the walls acts like a faraday cage for radiation?
So the black mold growing in the walls acts like a faraday cage for radiation?
Good, time to find a new planet that Democrats can’t survive on.
Selenomelanin, eh? Will this be considered a form of blackface?
No.
.
WHITE LEAD based makeup has other rather nasty side-effects.
.
*ping*
"Just wear the ****ed mask!" -- the scientists.
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