Oxygen

Oxygen is the symbol of life. But it has another, much darker side. In addition to being a revitalising elixir, it becomes a poison that every living organism must combat by a variety of means, from antioxidants to sophisticated physiological adaptations. Oxygen seems to be implicated in the ageing of our bodies, the diseases associated with old age and the death that seems to be the inevitable consequence of a lifetime of consumption. At least that's what Nick Lane, a British biochemist and author of several popular science books, argues in his fascinating, groundbreaking and fact-packed book, which in fifteen chapters reveals the irreplaceable role of oxygen in the evolution of the Earth and in the lives of each of us.