This week Alok Jha meets the Pulitzer prizewinning author Jared Diamond to discuss his new book The World Until Yesterday. Diamond explains how his early passion for ornithology led him to New Guinea and a life-long passion for studying traditional hunter-gatherer societies.
He also addresses the accusation by Survival International that he is "completely wrong, both factually and morally" to say that traditional societies are more violent than state-run societies.
Observer science editor Robin McKie has written about Diamond's new book here.
Alok also talks to Dr Turi King from the University of Leicester, one of the team that gathered DNA evidence confirming that the remains buried under a car park in Leicester really are those of King Richard III.
To round up some of the other science news stories Alok is joined by Robin to discuss the passing of Scotland's most beloved astronomer Archie Roy, and why the UK is in a fairly good state of readiness for a solar superstorm.
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