News Finding: Lee calls this pace "fast, but not too fast" to reconcile with Darwin's theory.
Paper Finding: Similarly, initial molecular analyses concluded that the extensive molecular divergences between arthropods, echinoderms, and chordates could not be fully reconciled with the abrupt Cambrian fossil record, assuming even the fastest modern rates of molecular evolution .
News Context: The creatures' genetic codes were changing by about .117% every million years--approximately 5.5 times faster than modern estimates, the group reports online today in Current Biology. Lee calls this pace "fast, but not too fast" to reconcile with Darwin's theory. This combined model for genes and anatomy represents "quite a stride forward," Wills says.
Paper Context: The present study reveals that constraining root age to any figure even loosely consistent with the fossil record (e.g., <650 Ma) implies elevated rates of morphological and molecular evolution in the late Precambrian. Similarly, initial molecular analyses concluded that the extensive molecular divergences between arthropods, echinoderms, and chordates could not be fully reconciled with the abrupt Cambrian fossil record, assuming even the fastest modern rates of molecular evolution . However, ''Darwin's dilemma'' might be resolvable.