The big idea: should we go to more parties?

Talking to strangers can be intimidating, but the social whirl has science on its side

The weird world of celebrity training: how Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Madonna get in shape for their shows

It takes incredible stamina to sing and dance for three hours night after night after night. Fitness professionals talk us through the stars’ regimes

‘I was in tears, angry, emotional’: do reality TV shows use sleep deprivation to trigger meltdowns and showdowns?

Exhaustion, vomiting, brains ‘turning to mush’ … from Love Island to The Apprentice to Squid Game: The Challenge, former contestants reveal how their big TV breaks became waking nightmares

Adele says staying in sunny LA staves off seasonal depression

Singer, who reportedly bought $58m property last year, says she also gets left alone in Los Angeles

‘Just strap on the footwear and walk’: a snowshoeing holiday for beginners in Bulgaria

A week conquering a new winter sport across three magical mountain ranges is both challenging and exhilarating – with hot springs and hikes providing the icing on the cake

Best ideas books of 2023

From psychology to AI, pandemics to popular culture, we survey the bigger picture

Gwyneth Paltrow: is her life a work of performance art?

How else do you explain the $15,000 vibrator, rectal ozone therapy and vaginal steaming? Perhaps the actor is giving her greatest performance yet ...

I didn’t fit in Wales, but found my sense of place by understanding its history, and my own

I stood out as different in Llandudno but by learning about its past and mine, it became the home I love

Hot chocolate, woolly socks and a good book: why cosy living is good for you

When it’s dark and cold outside (not to mention existentially troubling), our sense of survival kicks in and we withdraw to that place we feel safest – home

I Am the Tigress review – nuanced portrait of female bodybuilder’s strength and resilience

This detached character study is neither a feelgood story of empowerment, nor a grim look at a life on the margins and is more powerful for it