Chernobyl Fungus Feeds On Radiation
Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (AEC) have found evidence that certain fungi possess another talent beyond their ability to decompose matter: the capacity to use radioactivity as an energy source for making food and spurring their growth.
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Both of these melanin-containing species grew significantly faster than when exposed to standard background radiation.
"Just as the pigment chlorophyll converts sunlight into chemical energy that allows green plants to live and grow, our research suggests that melanin can use a different portion of the electromagnetic spectrum - ionizing radiation - to benefit the fungi containing it," said co-researcher Ekaterina Dadachova.
http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20070422222547data_trunc_sys.shtml
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Those giant mushrooms were real!!!
I read that some of he bacteria found at the bottom of african gold mines feeds off the radiation from decaying rocks.
Now that's efficiency! 
or something like that.
