Stevey Boy
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KIEV (AFP) - The Chernobyl nuclear disaster has radically changed the lives of worms in the region, which now enjoy more sex, Ukrainian scientists told AFP.
Scientists in Sebastopol have compared the way worms reproduce around Chernobyl, where radioactivity levels in the soil are 100 times higher than normal, with their cousins elsewhere.
Nearly a quarter of irradiated worms are seeking out partners to reproduce sexually rather than asexually, against five percent in less-affected areas, the research showed.
This is because sexual reproduction allows the worms to transmit their most radioactivity-resistant genes to their offspring, giving them the most chances of adapting to their new environment.
"They have a better chance of survival," according to biologist Guennady Polikarpov.
The Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas began its research on two species of worm, the nais pardalis and nais pseudobtusa, in the mid-1990s but has abandoned the program for lack of funds.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=sto...0030423/od_afp/ukraine_chernobyl_030423180656
Scientists in Sebastopol have compared the way worms reproduce around Chernobyl, where radioactivity levels in the soil are 100 times higher than normal, with their cousins elsewhere.
Nearly a quarter of irradiated worms are seeking out partners to reproduce sexually rather than asexually, against five percent in less-affected areas, the research showed.
This is because sexual reproduction allows the worms to transmit their most radioactivity-resistant genes to their offspring, giving them the most chances of adapting to their new environment.
"They have a better chance of survival," according to biologist Guennady Polikarpov.
The Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas began its research on two species of worm, the nais pardalis and nais pseudobtusa, in the mid-1990s but has abandoned the program for lack of funds.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=sto...0030423/od_afp/ukraine_chernobyl_030423180656
