Have you ever heard of nuclear energy? It is a very effective means of attaining energy, and could potentially become one of our main sources of energy, except for one problem: nuclear waste. While the elements used to perform nuclear fission are typically harmless, the leftovers are radioactive and toxic. These radioactive elements cannot be destroyed, and must be disposed of. Fortunately for us, we have rocket ships to do the job for us!!!

Eeeeeexcept, we don’t. Not to use in a practical manner, anyway.

1. Rocket ships are costly. The annual cost of launching one reactor’s fuel into space is about $100 million dollars.

2. It still wouldn’t be safe. The nuclear waste could mess up debris orbiting Earth and potentially interfere with satellites.

3. Rockets are unreliable. If a spaceship fails to exit the atmosphere, radioactive elements are free to fall down from the sky and do some nasty stuff to Earth.

Currently, the best way we have of disposing them is burying them under the ground. This means that nuclear waste will still continue to pile up on the Earth…not a promising thought.

This blurb has very little to do with the rest of the article, except that radioactive waste is not the only undesirable thing that is springing across Earth. Fungus, too, is building up on the Earth as we speak! And fungus will board a spaceship, whether we like it or not.

That, my readers, is how you grab someone’s attention.

[[ Theme song: 10 hours of rumbling spaceships ]]

What is a Spaceship?

A spaceship is like an airplane or a toilet, but instead of flying through the sky, it travels into space¹ ! Originally flown exclusively by monkeys² , these rockets allow astronauts to explore what lies beyond Earth!!!

Why do astronauts dare do this? They do it for the adventure! They do it for the knowledge! They do it for:

Okay, maybe it’s a little more exciting than that. But it still sounds pretty boring! Though I guess they do get ~125k per year, which isn’t completely awful…

Anyway, enough about space! And astronauts! How does fungus come into the game? How does space impact the life of a fungus? How do astronauts avoid letting fungus take over their ship? And, most importantly, are spaceships the cure for foot fungus on Earth once and for all?!? Let’s find out in today’s issue of:

¹ What’s that? Something about toilets not being able to fly through the sky? Strong Winds Send Port-a-Pottys Flying into the Air (YT link)

²Monkeys and apes in space - Wikipedia

Fungus in Zero Gravity

You would think that fungus would not do so good inside a spaceship. After all, the ship is wiped once every week to ensure that no fungus remains on board. However, this is not the case. One thing that fungus, especially foot fungus, really enjoy eating is dead skin cells. These are only a tad less prevalent on a spaceship than on Earth, providing food for the fungus. The zero gravity actually causes the fungus to be able to reproduce easier. When the fungus shoots out spores, it doesn’t have to stop and worry about friction and gravity—the spores will just keep flying until they hit something. Of course, space doesn’t provide a good habitat for all fungus. For instance, fungus that grows on trees would have no source of food, and thus would die out very fast! Nevertheless, there are certain fungus which astronauts just can’t get enough of.

Biofilms, a product of filamentous fungus, are a big problem on spaceships. They can damage expensive equipment and clog up water pipes, causing astronauts to get sick. Mold can spoil crucial food rations, and fungus can infect areas of the spaceship that are crucial to flight operation. I mentioned earlier that the ships are wiped down every week to prevent fungus. Unfortunately, this method is only partially effective. According to taskandpurpose.com, despite the weekly cleanings, “the fungus still has a knack for showing up in places like the wall where exercise clothes are hung to dry”. Although this theory has yet to be put into wide practice, engadget.com claims that applying spaceship surfaces with nucleic acids can prevent biofilm buildup, reducing formation by ~74%. From what I’ve seen online, there hasn’t been a ton of research put into fungus prevention on space. I am rather concerned for our astronauts now.

As for if spaceships are the cure to fungus once and for all: absolutely not! If they are too costly, unpredictable, and dangerous for nuclear waste, how on Earth would they be a practical disposal method of fungus?!? Besides, there are way too many fungus species in the world to be able to put an effective amount of fungus on the spaceship. Doesn’t work for waste, DEFINITELY doesn’t work for fungus.

A Hamster Tangent: Apparently, a common black mold called Aspergillus niger can be found on the ISS. This mold is insanely resistant to radiation—it can survive up to 200x the radiation it would take to kill a human! I wish I were made of black mold!

The Customer Q&A Section

Welcome back, customers of Foot Fungus Facts Incorporated! It’s time to answer some of your odd questions with even odder answers! Let’s get started with a question from Matthew Main.

Question: In FFF #17, you trigonometrically used tan in relation to the sun’s angle and dog’s position. Could you, reciprocally, use the Sun’s angle to determine the position that a dog would get a tan? And is tanned skin less likely to get fungus? -Matthew Main

Answer: For those of you who don’t remember, I used trigonometry to find out how far away a dog would have to be in the sky to create an eclipse. Here is the diagram:

Dog’s don’t typically get a tan due to their fur blocking their skin. However, they can get tan in certain areas. According to akc.org, “be sure to put [sunscreen] on the spots most exposed to sunshine, such as the bridge of the nose, ear tips, skin around the lips, groin, and inner thighs – and anywhere else where pigmentation is light.” Afterwards, it says, “You should apply sunscreen about 20 minutes before your dog goes out. And while they are out in the sun, reapply the sunscreen every 4 to 6 hours or after your dog goes swimming”. Why someone would put sunscreen on their dog is beyond me.

The dog is facing us, so anywhere on it’s head would be pretty safe. I could see the light hitting its inner legs or more tender parts of ears, maybe its stomach if it was angled wrongly. I don’t think a dog could get a tan, not and still stay alive. Meaning the dog would have to be 1.3 million miles from the sun¹ .

Here is an x-ray picture of a dog’s stomach:

As for whether tanned skin is more likely to get foot fungus: tanning doesn’t provide any protection against tanning. On the contrary, tanning can weaken the skin’s defenses, allowing fungus to infect it easier. Theoretically, tanned skin would also create a darker environment for better fungus growth. However, I don’t think the darkness of a tan would be enough to create a noticeable impact.

Question: What would happen if someone zapped foot fungus at different voltages? -Sammy Main

Answer: Electricity is actually a method to get rid of fungus. Under a low voltage, you can kill fungus with electric water—no, I am not making this up! The water is created through a combination of water (obviously), electricity, and a salt solution. When sprayed by means of a special machine called an electrolyzed oxidizing water unit, the water can help eliminate fungus in plants, such as gray mold. The product is not a complete substitute for fungicide, but is supposed to help ward off the invasive fungus.

Now, for the HIGH VOLTAGE!!!!

Using PEF (Pulsed Electric Fields) Sterilization, which applies microsecond high-voltage pulses to a cell’s membrane, can kill fungus at large amounts. Here is a cool equation from the website:

𝑉𝑐=𝑓𝑐𝐸𝑐𝑎cos𝜃
Basically, the electricity overrides the membrane and kills the cell. You can try and decipher more at https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/7/9/307. Good luck!

Oh, forgot to say: Sammy, please don’t go trying this at home. Not even the low voltage stuff. I don’t want to know what would happen if someone accidentally drank the electric water…

¹ 1.3 million miles from the sun is how far you have to be to die

Some Final Words

Most of my issues are finished on the weekend, on account of, I rarely have time to do these issues on the weekdays. You will notice that some issues do not appear on Saturday. This is because I was unable to finish the issue in time. This week, I actually finished the issue on Monday. Thanks to the eclipse, school was out, and I had an entire day for FFF writing! Thanks to CSIndy for providing a free day for writing newsletters, and thanks to Sammy for providing a last-minute electricity-themed Q&A! And finally, thank you, readers, for reading my issues!

Long live the feet!

—Josiah Hamster