Researchers have discovered a complete community of fungi, numbering 37 species, most of which are dark and rich in melanin. The most prominent among them was the black fungus, and also the most contaminated with radiation.
The story began in the late 1990s when a team of Ukrainian scientists led a research survey in the shelter surrounding the destroyed reactor. Among the radioactive ruins from which humans fled, the scientists found a velvety black fungus called "Cladosporium sphaerospermum" living its best life in one of the most dangerous environments on Earth.
"Science Alert": In the depths of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, specifically inside the structures surrounding the exploded Unit Four reactor some forty years ago, an unexpected organism is thriving.
