The deepest evolutionary chasm -- Quest for a progenitor -- The hydrogen hypothesis -- The meaning of respiration -- Proton power -- The origin of life -- Why bacteria are simple -- Why mitochondria make complexity possible -- The power laws of biology -- The warm-blooded revolution -- Conflict in the body -- Foundations of the individual -- The asymmetry of sex -- What human prehistory says about the sexes -- Why there are two sexes -- The mitochondrial theory of ageing -- Demise of the self-correcting machine -- A cure for old age?.