A team of Spanish researchers finds a curious relationship between the color of these amphibians and their resistance to radiation
Could the chernobyl frogs contribute to future of space exploration? As bizarre as the question may seem, the answer is yes. To understand why, stay tuned for this story from radioactive investigations, reptiles that ‘dye’ black to protect themselves from external threats and astronauts exposed to space radiation.
Our story begins in Chernobyl. To be more exact, the April 26, 1986when the nuclear reactor explosion turned the Ukrainian city into the scene of the biggest nuclear disaster and one of the biggest environmental disasters ever known. have passed almost forty years since then and, as innumerable reports emphasize, there are still debate about how radiation has transformed the ecosystem of the region.
Five years ago, a team of Spanish researchers set out to analyze what the animals that still lived near the plant were like and made a curious discovery: the frogs that lived at ‘ground zero’ of the accident were darker than those who lived in more distant places. The frogs (Hyla orientalis) from Chernobyl were completely black, while those from the ‘outskirts’ were a Shining green. It was also observed that the populations of these animals were ‘staining’ as they approached the areas that were once more exposed to radiation and lightening as they moved away from these points. What could this be due to?
One possible explanation, according to a new study led by researcher Germán Orizaola from the University of Oviedo, has to do with the “protection” that dark colors could provide against radiation. “The dark coloration, associated with a higher concentration of melanin, could reduce radiation damage in living organisms, by dissipating part of that radiation or reduce the action of free radicals“, emphasizes the research, published this week in the scientific journal ‘Evolutionary Applications’.
“The dark coloration, associated with a higher concentration of melanin, could reduce the damage caused by radiation”
natural evolution
The Spanish scientists also studied whether the darker frogsthey had absorbed more radiation thanLike their bright green companions. And the answer, based on the analysis of almost two hundred copies, seems to indicate not. The study indicates that the Chornobyl black frogs they could be the result of a process of natural selection generated, firstly, by initial exposure to very high levels of radiation and, secondly, by the survival of specimens with this characteristic.
“Individuals with a darker coloration, that is, with higher levels of melanin, would have suffered less impact of the radiation released by the accident. This increased protection would have made his frequency within the population would be increasedup to the levels currently detected”, concludes the investigation.
Space exploration
Related news
So how can these frogs help the future of space exploration? Well, as explained by the promoters of this work, this study opens new lines of research to understand if melanin can play in the protection against radiation of all kinds (whether generated by nuclear power plants and their waste or electromagnetic radiation from space).
This type of knowledge could be applied, in the future, to the development of extraterrestrial missions. Or to the design of the suits of the astronauts who, one day, will set foot on the red planet. Protecting yourself from radiation will be key to the success of these missions. And maybe the Chernobyl frogs, in their own way, help the future space explorers.