From Newsgroup: uk.religion.christian

The story of Noah's drunkenness is a puzzling one. On the one hand you
have the possibility that poor old Noah, overwhelmed by the ravaged
earth after the Flood, took refuge in alcohol and descended into
drunkenness for a time. On the other hand there is the possibility that
this was a one-off event, an unfortunate Saturday night with the new
wine from the latest harvest.

It is possible, however, that the truth lies in an entirely different direction!

New Scientist for 21 July 2001 carries a feature article on how
scientists are attempting to recreate ancient things from modern genes.
The article even speaks glowingly of possible attempts to recreate
dinosaurs!

"The most treaured skill of modern brewer's yeast, Saccharomyces
cerevisiae, is its ability to ferment sugars into alcohol with the help
of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). Brewer's yeast has several
versions of this gene, all derived from a single ancestral copy.
Benner's team compared them with ADH sequences from related yeasts and
worked out the sequence of their common ancestor.

"Then they brought the sequence to life using genetic engineering tools
to recreate the gene and produce the ancient enzyme for the first time
since dinosaurs walked the Earth. When they tested its biochemical
powers, they found something surprising. The enzyme was optimised to
consume alcohol rather than create it!"
New Scientist 21-907-2001 p. 31

The scientist referred to is Steven Benner of the University of Florida
in Gainesville.

It is thus possible that Noah, who enjoyed a glass of grape juice, had resorted to viticulture just as he had done in the happy days before the Flood. The crop was duly harvested, trampled and stored, and in due
course Noah sat down to sample the fruit of his hard work.

What he did not realise - and could not have realised - was that the
very yeast which had kept his wine alcohol-free before the Flood, had
now changed and instead of consuming alcohol was now producing it. The consequence was a splitting headache in the morning and a bad tempered
curse on his grandson.

God bless,
Kendall K. Down
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