生物与医学2022biorxiv.org
用于深空探索的自复制辐射屏蔽：放射性营养真菌
Self-replicating radiation-shield for deep-space exploration: Radiotrophic fungi
入门 · 约 30 分钟读完前置知识：辐射屏蔽基础、电离辐射衰减
导读
这篇预印本研究利用辐射营养真菌（如切尔诺贝利发现的黑色素真菌）作为深空探索的自复制辐射屏蔽材料。这类真菌能吸收电离辐射并生长，理论上可在太空中自我增殖，减少需要携带的屏蔽质量。
HN 关注点：其科幻成真的吸引力，同时讨论焦点在于真菌屏蔽的实际有效性——有评论指出辐射屏蔽主要取决于物质密度和质量，'自复制'优势可能被夸大。
HN 评论精选
这几条评论里：支持 1 质疑 1 补充 2
补充用 NIST 数据定量评估屏蔽效果：100mm 挡 80%，200mm 挡 96%
补充正确的物理计算：根据 NIST 的数据，高能光子的衰减系数为 0.0161/mm，因此 100mm 厚的这种材料层可以阻挡其测量光谱中 80% 的辐射，200mm 厚则可阻挡 96%。同样的指数衰减关系也适用于更高能量的伽马射线，只是系数会随能量变化。
yummypaint查看英文原文
For the record, here is the correct math for attenuation of high energy photons with a nice explanation from NIST: https://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/XrayMassCoef/chap2.html The coefficient in the exponential is 0.0161/mm for these data, so a 100 mm thick layer will stop 80% of their measured spectrum. A 200 mm thick layer will stop 96%. The same relationship applies for higher energy gammas as well, but the coefficents will be energy dependent.
质疑质疑：真菌屏蔽并无优势，'自复制'说法夸大其词
我不明白这有什么值得关注的。真菌在吸收电离辐射和亚原子粒子方面并不比几乎任何其他物质更神奇。'自复制'也是无意义的说法，因为它需要消耗水和碳源才能生长，而这些原料本身作为屏蔽材料可能密度更高、单位体积效果更好。辐射屏蔽与化学几乎无关，更别说生物学了。
MertsA查看英文原文
I don't understand the interest here. It's not like fungi are magically more effective than virtually any other mass at absorbing ionizing radiation and subatomic particles. "Self-replicating" is meaningless when it needs to consume water and carbon sources to do so which on their own would probably be denser and more effective per unit volume at shielding. Chemistry has next to nothing to do with radiation shielding let alone biology.
补充联想到科幻小说中用生物作为飞船辐射屏蔽的情节
这让我想起 Cordwainer Smith 最著名的小说《Scanners Live in Vain》。故事中科学家 Adam Stone 找到了征服'太空剧痛'的方法——他建造了一艘船壁充满生命的飞船来保护船内的人类：'我给飞船装满了生命……最外层的牡蛎死于剧痛，内层的活了下来，乘客毫发无伤。'
YeGoblynQueenne查看英文原文
This reminds of Cordwainer Smith's [1] most famous story, Scanners Live in Vain [2]. In the story, a scientist named Adam Stone has found a way to conquer The Great Pain of Space that affects humans who travel into space. To do so he builds a ship whose walls are teeming with life that shields the human inside it: "I have loaded ships with life." "Life?" "Life. I don't know what the Great Pain is, but I did find that in the experiments, when I sent out masses of animals or plants, the life in the center of the mass lived longest. I built ships -small ones, of course- and sent them out with rabbits, with monkeys-" "Those are Beasts?" "Yes. With small Beasts. And the Beasts came back unhurt. They came back because the walls of the ships were filled with life. I tried many kinds, and finally found a sort of life which lives in the waters. Oysters. Oysterbeds. The outermost oysters died in the great pain. The inner ones lived. The passengers were unhurt." "But they were Beasts?" "Not only Beasts. Myself." "You!" "I came through Space alone. Through what you call the Up-and-Out, alone. Awake and sleeping. I am unhurt. If you do not believe me, ask your brother Scanners. Come and see my ship in the morning. I will be glad to see you then, along with your brother Scanners. I am going to demonstrate before the Chiefs of the Instrumentality." https://archive.org/stream/ScannersLiveInVain/SmithCordwainer-ScannersLiveInVain.txt _____________ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordwainer_Smith [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanners_Live_in_Vain
支持表达对生物朋克式未来的兴奋
这才是我期待中的 solarpunk/biopunk 未来——用于太空探索的共生辐射屏蔽真菌！
blamestross查看英文原文
Now this is the solarpunk/biopunk future I signed up for. Symbiotic radiation shielding fungi for space exploration!
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