The two articles seem very much linked. Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould came out with an idea in 1972 that long periods of stasis with minimal change in species were punctuated with periods of change in many species(Puntuated equilibrium).
And yet horses still never seem to yield any life form that is anything unlike themselves. Jesus our Christ laid down the challenge that has withstood the test of centuries: breed a bramble that yields grapes - you can’t do it.
Luke 6
43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
Since the fossil record clearly does *not* demonstrate gradual changes over the millennia, atheists are scrambling for some other explanation.
“Punctuated equilibrium” is one of the newer attempts to explain away the truth - that God created the heavens and the earth, and all things therein - exactly like He said He did. (Genesis 1 + Acts 17:24)