Molecular clockwork and related theories Testing the basis for “Mitochondrial Eve.”Molecular clocks, a complex topic central to current debates on human evolution, first came into prominence in paleoanthropology in the 1960’s. One well-known study by Vincent Sarich and Alan Wilson of the University of California (1967) measured the immunological reactions in primates and other animals to a control sample of the blood protein serum albumin. The differences, assumed due to a constant rate of evolution through mutations, were then plotted on a linear scale showing time elapsed since each species diverged from a common ancestor. On the same principle, DNA,...