Oxygen : The Molecule That Made the World (Popular Science) - Softcover

Lane, Nick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198607830 ISBN 13: 9780198607830

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2004

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review:

'. . . popular science writing at its very best - clear yet challenging, speculative yet rigorous. The book is a tour de force which orchestrates a seamless story out of both venerable ideas and very recent discoveries in several disparate fields.' (Bernard Dixon)

'. . . a breathtaking, broad vision of the role of a single gas in our life, from the origin of organisms, through the emergence of creatures, and to their deaths . . . packed full of interesting life-and-death stories...A wonderful read.' (Peter Atkins)

'. . . one of the most thought-provoking books I have ever read.' (John Emsley)

Nick Lane's chapters are dispatches from the frontiers of research into Earth and life history, but they contain nothing that will lose the patient reader and much that will reward. (The Guardian Review)

a brisk revelatory study (Christopher Hirst, The Independent)

. . . Nick Lane marshals an impressive array of evidence - [an] ambitious narrative . . . This is science writing at its best. (Jerome Burne, The Financial Times)

About the Author:

Nick Lane studied biochemistry at Imperial College, University of London. His doctoral research, at the Royal Free Hospital, was on oxygen free-radicals and metabolic function in organ transplants. Dr Lane is Honorary Reader at University College London and strategic director at Adelphi Medi Cine, a medical multimedia company based in London, where he is responsible for developing interactive approaches to medical education. Articles by Nick Lane have been published in numerous international journals, including Scientific American, The Lancet and the British Medical Journal. He lives in London.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0198607830
• ISBN 13: 9780198607830
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384