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Oxygen - The molecule that made the world (Paperback)
Loot Price: R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
You Save: R32
(9%)
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Oxygen - The molecule that made the world (Paperback)
Series: Oxford Landmark Science
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List price R362
Loot Price R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
You Save R32 (9%)
Expected to ship within 9 - 17 working days
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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 might just redefine
the way we think about the world. Oxford Landmark Science books are
'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have
crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think.
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