#fungus

#fungus

Ugh: Cancers Have Their Own Fungus BiomesOur bodies contain entire ecosystems of microbes that aid our various functions, particularly digestion. Without the help of healthy bacteria, we can't break down many of the nutrients we need. While most of the microbes that live inside us are bacteria, we also have some fungi that are almost always harmless. Recent studies show that cancers also carry their own microbiome, which includes both bacteria and fungi. Two studies were published this week in the journal Cell that deal with the fungus that lives in cancers. They live inside the cancer cells, often along with bacteria, and they sometimes work together. Different types of fungus live in different types of cancer, which may have something to do with how lethal a particular type of cancer is. So far, the fungus studies show a correlation, which does not mean causation. Read more about the fungi that live in our cancer cells at Gizmodo.(Image credit: Richard.Reezigt) #cancer #fungus

The Strange Black Fungus that Grows at ChernobylIn the years since the 1986 nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl in Ukraine, scientists have been able to study the effects of nuclear radiation on nature. That's because all the people were evacuated from the nuclear power plant and the nearby town of Pripyat. Inside the exclusion zone, plants and animals were left to roam free without human interference. Scientist Tatiana Tugai of the Kyiv Institute of Microbiology and Virology visited the area to monitor those life forms and how they coped with radiation. Her team found more than 200 species of fungus growing in the exclusion zone, including an odd black fungus growing on the walls inside the nuclear reactor, where radiation levels were particularly high. The fungus is black because it contains melanin, which reacts with radiation in a way that makes the fungus grow. Read about this odd fungus, and how its makeup could be harnessed to protect space travelers from radiation, and even protect those of us on earth from some of the dangers of climate change, at Atlas Obscura. Use your own imagination to turn this idea into a horror film.(Image credit: Tiia Monto)#radiation #nuclearradiation #fungus #Chernobyl

Winners of the Close-up Photographer of the Year 2021The top 100 winners of Close-up Photographer of the Year 03 (2021) or CUPOTY 03 are now featured on its website showing the winners gallery.The Close-up Photographer of the Year website was the brainchild of husband-and-wife duo Tracy and Dan Calder of Winchester, UK. They wanted to put close-up, macro and micro photography on the center stage and be celebrated in its own right.Tracy, a former editor of Outdoor Photography and a features editor at Amateur Photography, has over 20 years experience in the photo magazine industry. She’s also a photography instructor at West Dean College in Sussex, and an author of Close-up & Macro Photography, which has been translated into French and Chinese. Dan is a contributor to Black + White Photography magazine.This year’s Close-up Photographer of the Year (CUPOTY 03) has more than 9000 photos from 55 countries across nine different categories. These categories are insects, animals, plants and fungi, underwater, butterflies and dragonflies, intimate landscape, manmade, micro, and young.From each category, the top three winners were chosen alongside with the other finalists. Here are the top three winners per category.#photography #CUPOTY #MacroPhotography #CloseupPhotography #photographycompetitionInsects