In Our Time: The Evolution of Lungs

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the evolution of lungs and of the first breaths, which can be traced back 400 million years to when animal life spread from rock pools and swamps onto land, as some fish found an advantage in getting their oxygen from air rather than water. While lungs developed in different ways, there are astonishing continuities such as the distinct breathing system that helps tiny birds fly thousands of miles now is also the one that once allowed some dinosaurs to become huge. Hiccups are vestiges of the flight reaction in fish needing more oxygen and mammals still breathe a little through the skin