'45-Million-Year-Old' Brewer's Yeast Still Works | The Institute for Creation Research

'45-Million-Year-Old' Brewer's Yeast Still Works

Stumptown Brewery in Guerneville, California, brews its beer according to a unique formula. Although standard ingredients such as malt and hops are used, the yeast that is added is supposedly 45 million years old.1 The yeast was found in the digestive tract of a bee encased in amber. How could yeast cells survive and still be able to make beer after such a long time?

The yeast strain was revived by Raul Cano at California Polytechnic State University, who has awakened many other ancient yeast strains and bacteria. While owner of a biotechnology corporation called Ambergene, he oversaw the isolation and characterization of over 1,200 ancient microorganisms from amber, including many recognizable species and strains of bacteria and yeast.2 Time magazine reported in 1995 that not only is DNA recoverable from amber, but Cano “revived the exact ancient organism, totally intact” from the entrapped bee’s gut.3

While this kind of discovery has been considered “miraculous,” “marvelous,”3 and “enigmatic,”4 it actually reveals the exceedingly improbable and unreasonable nature of the age assigned to the ancient materials from which these organisms were extracted. Chemistry and even natural selection conspire to break down living systems, at the biochemical and population levels respectively. So even encased in amber, natural deterioration processes still apply.

Cano even revived some non-spore forming bacteria “from a 120-million-year-old block of amber.”4 DNA, proteins, and tissues like blood vessels that have been found intact in earth materials that are supposedly millions of years old provide enough reasons to question the deep-time evolutionary interpretation of earth’s history.5 Now, an array of still-living organisms trapped inside amber provide strong additional reasons to doubt it.

However, if these amber deposits were a result of Noah’s Flood, then they all date to only 4,350 or so years ago.6 Finding live, revivable yeast after this length of time is much more plausible than the evolutionary assigned age of 45 million years, given the deleterious effects of the laws of chemistry and physics, which only do more damage given more time.

References

  1. Biba, E. Gallery: The Making of a Prehistoric Brew. Wired Science. Posted on Wired.com July 31, 2009, accessed August 10, 2009.
  2. Cano, R.J. Bio Sketch from California Polytechnic State University. Posted on calpoly.edu, accessed August 10, 2009.
  3. Nash, J.M. and D. Bjerklie. Return of the Living Dead? Time. Posted on time.com May 29, 1995, reporting research published in Cano, R. J. and M. K. Borucki. 1995. Revival and identification of bacterial spores in 25- to 40-million-year-old Dominican amber. Science. 268 (5213) 1060-1064.
  4. Greenblatt, C. L. et al. 2004. Micrococcus luteus - Survival in Amber. Microbial Ecology. 48 (1): 120-127.
  5. Thomas, B. Dinosaur Soft Tissues: They’re Real! ICR News. Posted on icr.org August 11, 2009.
  6. Thomas, B. Fossilized Gecko Fits Creation Model. ICR News. Posted on icr.org September 8, 2008.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.

Article posted on August 17, 2009.

The Latest
NEWS
Dino Footprints Down Under
Dinosaur trackways1 are once again making the news. Australia is the setting of a remarkable series of dinosaur tracks attributed to ornithischian...

NEWS
April 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things...

NEWS
Human Evolution and the Inner Ear
The vain attempt by evolutionists to make an evolutionary connection between people and ape-like ancestors continues. This time, it is in regard to...

CREATION PODCAST
Defending the Faith with a Rocket Scientist | Creation.Live Podcast:...
How do engineering principles, biological complexity, and a solid understanding of apologetics work together to further the cause of Christ? Why...

NEWS
Aerobic and Anaerobic Hot Spring Bacteria
God designed a domain of prokaryotes called Archaea that thrive in harsh and extreme environments. In 1969, two microbiologists, Thomas Brock and Hudson...

CREATION PODCAST
The Soulless Hominid Theory: A Fatal Flaw in Old Earth Creationism...
Welcome to the second episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit...

NEWS
Humpback Whale Calls Echo Creation
There is nothing simple about the system of communication called language, whether animal or human.1 Human language is a very sophisticated...

NEWS
Mary Parker, Creation Ministry Partner of Dr. Gary Parker, Is...
Mary Parker, the wife and co-laborer of Dr. Gary Parker, went home to be with her Lord on March 20, 2025. Dr. Parker was a popular and effective...

NEWS
Plants Rely on Quantum Mechanics
Scientists will probably never fully understand photosynthesis as additional research uncovers even more fascinating mysteries.1,2 ICR’s...

NEWS
Martian Polar Ice Cap ''Surprisingly Young''?
A team of German planetary scientists has concluded that a three-kilometer-thick northern polar ice cap on Mars has a “surprisingly young”...