• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Worms living near Chernobyl nuclear disaster zone have developed a ‘super power’

Home> News> World News

Updated 11:20 8 Mar 2024 GMTPublished 11:19 8 Mar 2024 GMT

Worms living near Chernobyl nuclear disaster zone have developed a ‘super power’

The worms have been examined as part of a ground-breaking new study

Callum Jones

Callum Jones

Worms living near the world’s most well-known nuclear disaster zone appear to have developed a 'super power'.

While it may have taken place many years ago, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster is still very relevant to this day.

In fact, scientists continue to visit and conduct experiments in the area, with a new study providing some intriguing findings.

Advert

Recently, experts visited Chernobyl to investigate nematodes, tiny worms with fairly simple genetic makeup.

The worms were gathered from soil samples, rotting fruit and other materials.

While conducting that, the scientists also tested local levels of radiation.

The same kind of worm being tested at Chernobyl.
Oregon/PA

Advert

And as is often the case with radiation levels in that part of the world, they varied from low levels often recorded in large cities, to high levels found in outer space.

Scientists took the worms they gathered to New York University to freeze and study them.

Dr Sophia Tintor, lead author of the study, said: "Chernobyl was a tragedy of incomprehensible scale, but we still don’t have a great grasp on the effects of the disaster on local populations.

“Did the sudden environmental shift select for species, or even individuals within a species, that are naturally more resistant to ionizing radiation?”

Advert

READ MORE

Chernobyl survivors share the horror symptoms they still suffer from 37 years later

Mutant wolves from Chernobyl have started developing cancer-resilient abilities

The 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant subsequently transformed the nearby surrounding land into the most radioactive on Earth.

Advert

Of course, human inhabitants had to leave their homes and everything they loved, but plants and animals were able to stay in the area despite the high levels of radiation.

But nearly 40 years after the disaster, animals living in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone are typically genetically different from the same species found elsewhere.

This has therefore raised questions surrounding the impact of chronic radiation on DNA.

The Chernobyl disaster happened nearly 40 years ago.
Getty Stock Photo

Advert

Matthew Rockman, a biology professor at New York University, said: "These worms live everywhere, and they live quickly, so they go through dozens of generations of evolution while a typical vertebrate is still putting on its shoes."

What is perhaps the most eye-opening part of this latest study is the fact that, despite the obvious high radiation levels, the genomes of the worms were not damaged... AT ALL.

But before you get your hopes up that Chernobyl could be safe for the first time in the best part of four decades, this doesn't really apply to us.

Dr Tintori revealed that the latest study concludes that worms are resilient animals which can withstand extreme conditions. You can say that again.

Featured Image Credit: Sophia Tintori / Igor Kostin/Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

Topics: Chernobyl, Animals, Science, News

Callum Jones
Callum Jones

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

2 hours ago
3 hours ago
  • 2 hours ago

    Everything we know so far after 'new Baba Vanga' predicts catastrophic event as tourists cancel trips

    Apparently tourism has taken a hit in Japan as a result of the worrying forecast for July

    News
  • 3 hours ago

    Woman who thought she would die during shark attack describes the horrifying moments before she was bitten

    Actual nightmare material...

    News
  • 3 hours ago

    Scientists discover sitting for hours actually shrinks the brain in disturbing new study

    You might want to get up and walk around to read this

    News
  • 3 hours ago

    Woman who went viral for using 'clear phone' that left people shocked reveals what it really is

    She said that using the unusual device was 'empowering'

    News
  • Impact Russian drone hitting Chernobyl power plant ‘protecting world from radiation' could have on Earth if significantly damaged
  • New study reveals shock reason why people living near a golf course may have double the risk of getting Parkinson’s disease
  • Shocking footage shows Russian drone hitting Chernobyl power plant that 'protects the world from radiation'
  • The body of the first victim of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster was never found