This strikes me as a very hyped article. "It’s like Einstein’s theory of relativity, but for viruses" - seriously?! While the proposed explanation for differing rates of evolution is doubtlessly interesting from a scientific perspective, it is definitely not as big as this article makes it out to be.
Also the dig at the molecular clock is pointless - we have always known that there are many unknowns involved when using a "standard mutation rate" to calculate the time since the divergence between two species. That is nothing new, and the estimates we have are consequently constantly being revised. The time-dependent rate is a good addition to our methodologies, but it isn't the revolution advertised here.
(Oh and by the way, the original paper is from 2005.)
Also the dig at the molecular clock is pointless - we have always known that there are many unknowns involved when using a "standard mutation rate" to calculate the time since the divergence between two species. That is nothing new, and the estimates we have are consequently constantly being revised. The time-dependent rate is a good addition to our methodologies, but it isn't the revolution advertised here.
(Oh and by the way, the original paper is from 2005.)