Finagling Molecular Clocks to Fit Darwinism

Finagle's Constant is whimsically defined as "that quantity which, when added to, subtracted from, multiplied by, or divided by the answer you got, gives you the answer you should have gotten." One of the best examples in modern science is the so-called "Molecular Clock" hypothesis in evolutionary theory.

In Current Biology, Michael S. Y. Lee and Simon Y. W. Ho teach the uninitiated about the wizardry that goes into molecular clocks. First, a bit of history.

In the 1960s, several groups of s...