New York University researchers led a study recently published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that found nuclear radiation-immune worms in Chornobyl.
Tiny, microscopic worms known as nematodes were gathered around the highly radioactive Chernobyl Exclusion Zone site. Despite the catastrophic explosion of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986, these little things have proved to be "exceptionally resilient" to nuclear radiation, seemingly unaffected living in the most radioactive area on Earth.
After all these years, one of the researchers, Sophia Tintori, says we still don't know what the explosion really means for those around the area - including worms.
Chornobyl was a tragedy of incomprehensible scale, but we still don't have a great grasp on the effects of the disaster on local populations.
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Did the sudden environmental shift select for species, or even individuals within a species, that are naturally more resistant to ionizing radiation?
Global News
Not long ago, black frogs and mutant wolves with cancer-resistant genomes were discovered in the same area. These are just tiny little worms — who cares?
Well, we're being told all this could help with cancer research.
How different individuals in a species respond to DNA damage is top of mind for cancer researchers seeking to understand why some humans with a genetic predisposition to cancer develop the disease, while others do not.
'Thinking about how individuals respond differently to DNA-damaging agents in the environment is something that will help us have a clear vision of our own risk factors,' added Tintori.
In contrast to other studied animals, like the mutant wolves, these worms possess simple genomes and short lifespans. This allows scientists to examine multiple generations within a very short timeframe.
Matthew Rockman, a biology professor at NYU and the study's senior author, is very excited about this.
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.
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We can cryopreserve worms, and then thaw them for study later. That means that we can stop evolution from happening in the lab, something impossible with most other animal models, and very valuable when we want to compare animals that have experienced different evolutionary histories.
These worms are so resilient that when scientists compared them to the same type of worms from different parts of the world, they were shocked to find no evidence of radiation damage in the genomes of the Chernobyl worms.
This doesn't mean that Chornobyl is safe — it more likely means that nematodes are really resilient animals and can withstand extreme conditions.
We also don't know how long each of the worms we collected was in the zone, so we can't be sure exactly what level of exposure each worm and its ancestors received over the past four decades.
The scientists are questioning whether these worms' lack of genetic changes was due to their resilience evolution or their exceptional ability to repair damaged DNA.
Science, man!
It's all pretty cool, and while it may take decades to determine whether these worms or mutant wolves will benefit the greater good, it sure is a lot of guesswork.
Curing cancer should, of course, 100% be the goal here — NO question about it.
But I can't help but imagine what this could mean for skincare. (Am I a terrible person?)
Chernobyl Skincare? Count me in.
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
