What evolutionary question does Dr. Shubin want to answer?

Most people don’t think of paleontology as a ‘predictive science’ (the common view being that paleontologists go out looking and digging, hoping they get lucky and find something significant). However, Dr. Shubin and his colleagues show that this view is incorrect. What evolutionary question did Shubin want to answer and how did he go about deciding where to look for the fossils to answer that question? Describe all of the different considerations that went into finding the right rocks to prospect for the right fossils.