The Chornobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986 transformed the surrounding area into the most radioactive landscape on Earth.

While humans were evacuated, many plants and animals persist in the region, despite enduring high levels of radiation almost four decades later.

Recent research has revealed that certain animals within the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, an area in northern Ukraine within an 18.6-mile radius of the power plant, exhibit physical and genetic distinctions from their counterparts elsewhere.

This raises questions about the impact of chronic radiation on DNA, the Daily Mail reported.

In a new study, researchers conducted investigations in Chernobyl focusing on nematodes, tiny worms with simple genomes and rapid reproduction rates, making them valuable for understanding basic biological phenomena.

“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,” said Dr Sophia Tintor, lead author of the study. 

“Did the sudden environmental shift select for species, or even individuals within a species, that are naturally more resistant to ionizing radiation,” she questioned.

Remarkably, worms in proximity to Chernobyl have developed a newfound ‘superpower’—they seem to possess immunity to radiation.

Written by B.C. Begley