London: Oxford University Press, 2003. Octavo, softcover.

Nick Lane 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, and the surprisingly long lives of bats and birds. While offering fresh perspectives on our own lives and deaths, explaining modern killer diseases, why we age, and what we can do about it.