Oxygen

Descriere Oxygen

\nOxygen has had extraordinary effects on life. \nThree hundred million years ago, in Carboniferous times, dragonflies grew as big as seagulls, with wingspans of \nnearly a metre. Researchers claim they could have flown only if the air had contained more oxygen than today - \nprobably as much as 35 per cent. Giant spiders, tree-ferns, marine rock formations and fossil charcoals \nall tell the same story. High oxygen levels may also explain the global firestorm that contributed to the \ndemise of the dinosaurs after the asteroid impact. \n \nThe strange and profound effects that oxygen has had on the evolution of life pose a riddle, which this book \nsets out to answer. Oxygen is a toxic gas. Divers breathing pure oxygen at depth suffer from convulsions \nand lung injury. Fruit flies raised at twice normal atmospheric levels of oxygen live half as long as their \nsiblings. Reactive forms of oxygen, known as free radicals, are thought to cause ageing in people. Yet if \natmospheric oxygen reached 35 per cent in the Carboniferous, why did it promote exuberant growth, \ninstead of rapid ageing and death? \n \nOxygen takes the reader on an enthralling journey, as gripping as a thriller, as it unravels the unexpected \nways in which oxygen spurred the evolution of life and death. The book explains far more than the size of \nancient 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. \n \nDrawing on this grand evolutionary canvas, Oxygen offers fresh perspectives on our own lives and deaths, \nexplaining modern killer diseases, why we age, and what we can do about it. Advancing revelatory new ideas, \nfollowing chains of evidence, the book ranges through many disciplines, from environmental sciences to \nmolecular medicine. The result is a captivating vision of contemporary science and a humane synthesis of our \nplace in nature. This remarkable book might just redefine the way we think about the world. \n \nOxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think. \n\n

Detalii

Brand

Oxford University Press

Categorie

ENSTK

EAN / GTIN

9780198784937

Magazine

1

Disponibilitate

in stock