Science update old and new — lichen, beer, rocks

New lichen species in Yosemite; new beer from old yeast; oldest earth rocks

Yosemite is sporting at least one newly-identified species of lichen. It’s in plain site at such commonly-visited sites as Vernal Falls, Half Dome and El Capitan.

If you’ve been to Yosemite, what you (or I) thought were brightly colored oxidized minerals is actually the lichen. Hmm… wonder if that’s true in other western spots with lots of pouroffs, like Zion.

It has newfound importance, too; lichen are good monitors of air pollution and climate change.

And, it’s not quite so lonesome; in the past two years in Yosemite, scientists have found one new species of orchid and three of bees.

A California brewmeister is using 45-million-year-old yeast for his newest offings. His company? Fossil Fuels Brewing Company.

And, since he’s in California, you can give his — to wax biblical — old yeast in new beer bottles a taste after looking at lichen in Yosemite.

Earth’s oldest rocks are now known to be in Quebec.

Sorry, Sarah Palin and others of young-earth creationist ilk, but more scientific evidence is in that our planet is about 4.5-4.6 billion years old.

The latest? Rocks in northeastern Quebec date to about 4.28 billion years
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