[SoftTalker]

I'm not sure radiation resistance is really a thing. Radiation causes physical damage, it's not like a virus or bacteria that an organism can potentially fight off with an immune response.

The few males that might survive the gamma exposure with intact fertility are probably just ones that didn't get a full dose.

It is rather amazing to me in fact that it's possible to sterilize the males without killing them.

[causality0]

Everything is a thing. Immune systems are, when all is said and done, physics. Simpler forms of death tend to be harder to evolve resistance against, but given enough generations it will happen. For example, microorganisms regularly evolve increasing resistance to sterilizing chemicals, such as enterococcus faecium evolving resistance to isopropanol, various species of bacillus increasing their resistance to hydrogen peroxide, pseudomonas evolving resistance to benzalkonium chloride, etc.

[AlexCoventry]

Surprisingly, it is a thing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioresistance

[warumdarum]

Even in computation.

[goda90]

This might be a way to adapt to radiation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiosynthesis_(metabolism)

[srean]

Couldn't there be genes that help with repairing the radiation induced damage ?

From what I have read, flora and fauna around Chernobyl seems to have acquired degrees of radiation tolerance.

BTW I am a complete ignoramus in these matters.

[kulahan]

Yes. There isn’t much evolutionary benefit and it would be insanely calorically expensive, but there’s no reason a creature couldn’t evolve some kind of DNA repair or something to that effect.

Iirc, elephants almost never get cancer, nor do lobsters.

There are already bacteria found near Chernobyl which consume radiation.