Teeming with rare mammals, the Tripa swamp is an orangutan stronghold and vital carbon store in north-western Sumatra, an island larger than the UK whose natural wealth for decades has been relentlessly stripped by Indonesia's corrupt rulers. Nearly half its forest was burnt or chainsawed between 1985 and 2007, proportionally more than neighbouring Borneo, which is shared between Indonesia and the more orderly Malaysia and Brunei.

Study of 11,000 bird and butterfly species shows many are at risk

Radio 2's Hot Gossip is a panel show hosted by Claudia Winkleman about celebrity tittle-tattle, but not in the shameless we-don't-care-if-you-think-we're-shallow sense. It is, in fact, propelled by shame.

The dramatic decline of the world's top predators, from wolves and lions to sharks and tuna fish, represents one of the most destructive human influences on the natural world, a group of leading biologists has found.

In the ugly litany of environmental crimes, perhaps the worst is the destruction of a whole ecosystem. In its sweeping finality it's like the sacking of a city. Troy resonates with us still, as does Hiroshima; so, one day, may lost forests.

The report that the ocean is in trouble is no surprise. What is shocking is that it has taken so long for us to make the connection between the state of the ocean and everything we care about – the economy, health, security – and the existence of life itself.

I am about to descend a wire ladder that drops into a recently discovered cave on the small Indian Ocean volcanic island of Rodrigues. My team is studying the ecosystem of the island before human settlement. My partner Julian and Australians Greg and Steve have already gone down the ladder, each vying for the macho achievement of being the pioneer.

Science has never had an advocate quite like David Deutsch. He is a computational physicist on a par with his touchstones Alan Turing and Richard Feynman, and also a philosopher in the line of his greatest hero, Karl Popper. His arguments are so clear that to read him is to experience the thrill of the highest level of discourse available on this planet and to understand it.

The world's oceans would be a better place for wildlife if people shifted from eating large, predatory fish such as tuna and cod to smaller, "grazing" fish such as anchovies and sardines, a major scientific study has found.