Apparently trees used to lay fallen on the ground for millions (?) of years before fungus evolved to eat them, and since then there has been no new coal.
(I may be wildly off on the specifics but that is the gist I got from reading stuff here and there)
I swear fungi are the coolest and most "alien" lifeforms on this planet next to cephalopods ଳ
Or they're the original and we're the alien
The chemical process obviously has to differ considering gamma radiation has enough energy to knock off electrons, but once you deal with that, it's energy ripe for the taking. I'm not shocked that life finds a way to harness that energy where abundant.
In fact, had life come about on an Earth with a weaker magnetic field, it may have relied more on gamma radiation than visible light, especially considering the larger potential amount of consumable energy present in gamma rays.
> we cautiously suggest that the ability of melanin to capture electromagnetic radiation combined with its remarkable oxidation-reduction properties may confer upon melanotic organisms the ability to harness radiation for metabolic energy. The enhanced growth of melanotic fungi in conditions of radiation fluxes suggests the need for additional investigation to ascertain the mechanism for this effect.
Later on, one of the characters sees the face of Pope John Paul II in the poop and the owner of the spaceship (who was supposed to be played by Jack Black but instead Josh Gad ruined the entire series) sends up a laser light show to illuminate the dookies in space.
datadrivenangel•1h ago
We're going to see an increase in plastic metabolizing bacteria as well, so eventually our plastics will 'rust' and degrade faster.
chistev•1h ago
freehorse•1h ago
cyberlimerence•1h ago
chistev•51m ago
datadrivenangel•1h ago
Also there's the risk that we accidentally release some genetically modified bacteria and they prove to be hardier than expected.
dilawar•1h ago
Earth had a plastic like problem before. There were no fungi that eat cellulose so dead trees were just piling up without degrading. Those trees turned into ~petroleum~ coal that we consume now.
That trees somehow turned into ~petroleum~ coal, I learnt in school. I used to imagine trees were somehow buried under stand suddenly and before they could be degraded they turned into ~petroleum~ coal under heavy pressure.
lucianbr•1h ago
chistev•53m ago
dilawar•32m ago
observationist•31m ago
Depending on the conditions and chemistry, you can get coal from ancient algal sources, but you can't get petroleum / liquid oil from ancient forests - the chemistry doesn't work out. You need lots of water and heat and pressure, single cell structures. Lots of cellulose and lignin means you don't get the liquefaction and mixing, forcing the material to carbonize and compress instead.
rpdillon•48m ago
> The world at beginning of the Carboniferous period was a humid, tropical place. Seasons, if any, were indistinct. The Carboniferous trees and plants resembled those that live in tropical and mildly temperate areas today. They grew in wetlands and were shallow-rooted. This, combined with their great height and ponderous weight, was a bad combination, because these enormous trees would regularly become uprooted and topple into the marshy ground, landing on other trees that preceded them.
> Here is where fate steps in. Although trees had evolved lignin and cellulose, no bacteria that could digest these woody substances had yet evolved. In fact, those bacteria would take another 60 million years to evolve. All this time huge trees kept growing, crashing into the swampy ground, and piling up on top of uncounted other trees, getting buried deeper and deeper into the ground. Over millions of years, subjected to the heat and pressure of deep burial, the carbon in these trees was converted into the fossil fuels we know and love today – coal, oil, and natural gas. All the fossil fuels we use were produced during this 60-million year period.
https://emagazine.com/carbon-in-trees/
lucianbr•31m ago
tartuffe78•24m ago
andai•38m ago
Meanwhile we got plastic-eating bacteria after like 100 years.
amelius•1h ago
HPsquared•1h ago
maplant•57m ago
benchly•33m ago
I read too much dystopian sci-fi to write much else, but in truth, I have pretty high hopes for these garbage-eating microbes.
shagie•1h ago
https://big.ucdavis.edu/blog/plastic-eating-microbe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PETase
November 4th : https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/11/251104013023.h...
> Beneath the ocean’s surface, bacteria have evolved specialized enzymes that can digest PET plastic, the material used in bottles and clothes. Researchers at KAUST discovered that a unique molecular signature distinguishes enzymes capable of efficiently breaking down plastic. Found in nearly 80% of ocean samples, these PETase variants show nature’s growing adaptation to human pollution.
perihelions•43m ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45886479 ("Widespread distribution of bacteria containing PETases across global oceans (oup.com)"—1 day ago, 72 comments)
(The new $300 iPhone thong is made of PET (polyester), so, it's reassuring to know the universe does have the capability to unmake those).
ilt•6m ago
raverbashing•1h ago
krige•45m ago