Oxygen

The molecule that made the world

Nick Lane

384 pages | 13 figures | 196x129mm

978-0-19-860783-0 | Paperback | 25 September 2003

Price: £8.99

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Offers fresh perspectives on our own lives and deaths, explaining why we age and what we can do about it
Draws on the role of oxygen in evolution to develop a new explanation of ageing, the Double Agent Theory
Conveys scientific concepts in a simple and accessible way, through the use of clear language, an engaging tone, and vivid analogies
Shows how oxygen drove the evolution of sophisticated cells, multicellular organisms, large animals and plants, photosynthesis, predators, giant insects, two sexes, and ageing
Links the extremes of the living world, from bacterial tolerance of cosmic radiation, to the organization of our own bodies, to the extinction of the dinosaurs in a global firestorm
Panoramic view of life on Earth drawing on geology, cosmology, chemistry, biology, and medicine
A captivating vision of contemporary science and a humane synthesis of our place in nature

Oxygen has had extraordinary effects on life.

Three hundred million years ago, in Carboniferous times, dragonflies grew as big as seagulls, with wingspans of
nearly a metre. Researchers claim they could have flown only if the air had contained more oxygen than today -
probably as much as 35 per cent. Giant spiders, tree-ferns, marine rock formations and fossil charcoals
all tell the same story. High oxygen levels may also explain the global firestorm that contributed to the
demise of the dinosaurs after the asteroid impact.

The strange and profound effects that oxygen has had on the evolution of life pose a riddle, which this book
sets out to answer. Oxygen is a toxic gas. Divers breathing pure oxygen at depth suffer from convulsions
and lung injury. Fruit flies raised at twice normal atmospheric levels of oxygen live half as long as their
siblings. Reactive forms of oxygen, known as free radicals, are thought to cause ageing in people. Yet if
atmospheric oxygen reached 35 per cent in the Carboniferous, why did it promote exuberant growth,
instead of rapid ageing and death?

Oxygen takes the reader on an enthralling journey, as gripping as a thriller, as it unravels the unexpected
ways in which oxygen spurred the evolution of life and death. The book explains far more than the size of
ancient insects: it shows how oxygen underpins the origin of biological complexity, the birth of photosynthesis, the sudden evolution of animals, the need for two sexes, the accelerated ageing of cloned animals like Dolly the sheep, and the surprisingly long lives of bats and birds.

Drawing on this grand evolutionary canvas, Oxygen offers fresh perspectives on our own lives and deaths,
explaining modern killer diseases, why we age, and what we can do about it. Advancing revelatory new ideas,
following chains of evidence, the book ranges through many disciplines, from environmental sciences to
molecular medicine. The result is a captivating vision of contemporary science and a humane synthesis of our
place in nature. This remarkable book will redefine the way we think about the world.

Readership: General educated lay public, and anybody who is interested in an up-to-date, scientific explanation of ageing, and what can be done about it; university students of biology, chemistry and medicine, and interested sixth-form students; professional biologists, earth scientists and doctors.

Oxygen

The molecule that made the world

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