This week, Ian Sample asks: why do humans fight? Can science tell us anything about what drives us to violence?

Subscribe and review on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom and Mixcloud. Join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter

Experts have been fighting about fighting throughout the ages. While theories have emerged to explain why we fight, there isn’t a consensus in the research. In general, theories of war miss the mark for some. So why do we fight? And what can science tell us?

To explore what experts are saying, host Ian Sample sits down with Mike Martin, author of Why We Fight; Nils Metternich, reader in international relations at University College London; and Mark Pagel, an evolutionary biologist with the University of Reading.