News Finding: Evolutionary divergence of humans from chimpanzees likely occurred some 8 million years ago rather than the 5 million year estimate widely accepted by scientists, a new statistical model suggests.
Paper Finding: Compared with two recent molecular studies of primate divergence dates Young 2006, 2008) , the majority of our estimates are somewhat older (Fig.
News Context: Evolutionary divergence of humans from chimpanzees likely occurred some 8 million years ago rather than the 5 million year estimate widely accepted by scientists, a new statistical model suggests. Comparing DNA among related animals can provide a clear picture of how their shared genes evolved over time, giving rise to new and separate species, Martin said. It can give scientists a broader perspective for interpreting data.
Paper Context: Thus, the relatively low (compared with other nodes) discrepancy between mean model estimate and fossil date for node t 13 (34.6%; Table 5 ) may reflect the effect of the near-total absence of a crown strepsirrhine fossil record on both dates rather than relative congruence between the two. Compared with two recent molecular studies of primate divergence dates Young 2006, 2008) , the majority of our estimates are somewhat older (Fig. In most cases, the increases suggested discrepancies between estimated divergence dates and the oldest known fossil representative of a clade.