The British biologist Steven Jones delves into modern genetics not so much to trace the evolution of species but to trace the evolution of humans and their habits, from sex to language.
Mutation is what causes aging and death.
Mutation is the whole point of sex. Sex is the antidote to the genetic deterioration due to the imperfect copying process. The long-term outcome of sex is that it is more likely that better future individuals are produced from the deterioration of present individuals. Philosophically, the problem is that mutation is random. Jones also briefly discusses the different behavior of males and females, although he doesn't truly elaborate on, for example, why murder is almost exclusively male and it peaks at 25.