Changes

The issue here is whether this is a minor modification of the evolutionary hypothesis, or a mortal blow. If it's just a minor modification, then I agree that this is a storm in a teacup. But my argument is that this is something much bigger than a minor modification. Even one of the critics above (ShawnJ) seems to recognise this, in saying that he hasn't seen this sort of revision himself before. And of course New Scientist referred to the evolutionary tree as a "central tenet". So I believe that the argument that it's just a minor modification of the hypothesis is unsupported. No, this is a very significant problem for the hypothesis, hence the headline. But of course evolution won't die, hence the second sentence of the headline.

The issue here is whether this is a minor modification of the evolutionary hypothesis, or a mortal blow. If it's just a minor modification, then I agree that this is a storm in a teacup. But my argument is that this is something much bigger than a minor modification. Even one of the critics above (ShawnJ) seems to recognise this, in saying that he hasn't seen this sort of revision himself before. And of course New Scientist referred to the evolutionary tree as a "central tenet". So I believe that the argument that it's just a minor modification of the hypothesis is unsupported. No, this is a very significant problem for the hypothesis, hence the headline. But of course evolution won't die, hence the second sentence of the headline.