This Month
Why Kamala Harris’ laugh might help her beat Trump
The US presidential candidate has a smile and laugh that actually play well to our evolutionary instincts. They could lift her faltering campaign.
- Peter Quarry
Just three glasses of wine a week can shrink your brain
It’s not just your liver you should worry about – alcohol has been found to change humans’ cerebral anatomy. Here’s what you need to know.
- Emily Craig
Your bigger brain comes with a downside – faster ageing
A study comparing chimpanzees and humans suggests the regions that grew the most during evolution are the most susceptible to old age.
- Carl Zimmer
August
The latest trend to improve your sleep
There’s a growing buzz about a rainbow of soothing sounds and their theoretical effects on concentration and the relaxation response.
- Carla Johnson
July
Work friends can be hard to find. How to combat workplace loneliness
Remote work has only intensified a problem that has been bubbling for decades.
- Melissa Rayworth
Are you guilty of these eight unhealthy ‘microaggressions’?
Such behaviour can have a serious impact on mental and physical wellbeing, including depression and sleeping problems, say experts – so it may pay to avoid it.
- George Chesterton
Why you probably need to rethink your bucket list
Rather than grand plans, small actions every day are the key to achieving happiness and a sense of worth.
- Lucy Dean
Making new friends can be hard. Here are five ways to make one a year
Many modern factors, including remote work, social media and a higher focus on convenience in everyday life, such as home streaming, have increased loneliness.
- Emma Nadler
June
Yes, drinking coffee can cause anxiety
Caffeine is a stimulant that affects the part of the body responsible for your fight-or-flight response. Here are three ways to stop it becoming a problem.
- Hannah Singleton
To live longer, wear rose-coloured glasses
Studies show optimistic people are more likely to live a healthier, longer life – and you can change your health by changing your attitude.
- Albert Stumm
Knowing the four personality types is key to better habits
Is your 2024 not going quite to plan? Here’s how to establish healthier habits in FY25.
- Lucy Dean
The trouble with psychedelics
The gold-standard methodology for testing a drug’s efficacy, the double-blind trial, does not work for substances that affect the mind.
- Jonathan Lambert
May
Why limiting your diet could be harming your brain
Researchers have found that people who liked a variety of foods did better on cognitive tests than those with limited dietary preferences.
- Teddy Amenabar
- Opinion
- Mental health
Is it time to stop talking about mental illness?
I believe many young people are being encouraged to frame normal experiences as psychiatric conditions. There are even financial motivations.
- Peter Quarry
What an even closer peek inside the brains of ‘super-agers’ reveals
Scientists have become enthralled by a subset of the population aged 80 and older who with the memory of a person 20 to 30 years younger.
- Dana G. Smith
Six podcasts that will help you cope with stress
At a time of unsettling news at home and abroad, these shows offer tips and first-person accounts to alleviate a spiralling sense of unease.
- Emma Dibdin
Adults become lonelier from age 50, say scientists
An analysis of nine long-term studies of nearly 130,000 people from Western countries found a striking “U-shaped” pattern of loneliness throughout life.
- Sarah Knapton
April
How exercise strengthens your brain
Perhaps most remarkably, exercise offers protection against neurodegenerative diseases.
- Updated
- Dana G. Smith
How not to be bored when you have to wait
A writer went on a quest to wait less. Then he discovered how to care less about waiting.
- Arthur C. Brooks
Over 50 and lonely? Here are six ways to fix that
Loneliness isn’t always apparent from the outside. It’s an invisible cloak that eats away at your wellbeing without anyone knowing. That can make it deadly.
- Annabel Jones
