The final countdown
In a controversial new theory [Reinhard Stindl, of the Institute of Medical Biology in Vienna] suggests that all eukaryotic species (everything except bacteria and algae) have an evolutionary "clock" that ticks through generations, counting down to an eventual extinction date. This clock might help to explain some of the more puzzling aspects of evolution, but it also overturns current thinking and even questions the orthodoxy of Darwin's natural selection.
I think it's far too early to grace Stindl's idea with the title of theory, but it's certainly an interesting hypothesis, offering as it does a potential genetic explanation for the apparent phenomenon of punctuated equilibrium. As the article points out, however, other scientists are going to take some convincing.