1. Why this book? Because the chain reaction of lipid peroxidation is everywhere

Vegetable oils easily oxidise

At a BBQ party in Texas, you drizzle a little vegetable oil into a salad bowl, but, distracted by a burst of laughter, leave the uncapped bottle on the table. The party is such a success that the cleanup only starts three days later in the evening, when the punishing Texan sun loosens its grip.

The rancid stench now rising from the bottle is so vile that even your dog recoils in disgust. The oil seems not to have taken the sun and air at all well. You pick a screwcap and seal the bottle tight, with relief.

From Flemish studios to living cells

Let's relocate into a Flemish painter's studio, 1526 AD. Vivid pigments are ground into flax oil and brushed onto canvas. Within days the air oxidizes the oil into a hard lacquer layer, locking the fine colourful grains in place for centuries. Fast-forward 500 years, and audiences are still spellbound by the panorama of Delft embankment, or by the thin ribbon of milk suspended forever in mid-pour from a milkmaid's jug, all courtesy of this oxidation process preserving colours.

“Oil” and “air” are the common topics in this transition from Texas to Old Masters. Many types of oil readily oxidise in air, and herein lies the biological problem.