This fungus only covers caesium.
http://www.nature.com/news/2002/020508/ ... 506-1.html
Edible mushrooms can mop up radioactive pollution because one of their pigments captures elements such as caesium, say chemists in France1. Radioactive caesium is a large component of waste from nuclear power stations.
The insight could lead to new ways of cleaning up contaminated soils to prevent pollutants getting into the food chain. Toxic and radioactive substances might stick to a kind of fly-paper covered in molecules like the pigments, for instance.
The research even raises hope that mushroom-inspired molecules might transport the radioactive isotope caesium-137 around the body and home in on specific tissues in radiotherapy.
Fungi such as the bay boletus accumulate caesium-137, along with other toxic metals such as lead and mercury. Caesium-137 has no known natural sources. It was part of the fallout from the Chernobyl accident in 1986.
