The social biome: how to build nourishing friendships – and banish loneliness

All your daily interactions with others, big and small, make up your social biome, and the pandemic has severely damaged most of ours. Here’s how to reinvigorate it

My son Felix was 20 when he died. Better awareness of epilepsy might have saved him

It’s been the hardest four years of my life but now I know my son will always be a part of me

The pandemic has given me extra time with my teenage sons

It’s been a tough time to be 17 or 18, but there have been some upsides too, writes Emma Beddington

‘The ketamine blew my mind’: can psychedelics cure addiction and depression?

This week sees the opening of the first UK high-street clinic offering psychedelic-assisted therapy. Could popping psilocybin be the future of mental healthcare?

Beyond Order by Jordan Peterson review – a ragbag of self-help dictums

There is too much messianic passion and not enough enlightening psychology in Peterson’s follow-up to the bestselling 12 Rules for Life

We read books to my daughter from birth, which enriched all our lives

A difficult pregnancy meant the only item I dared buy for my unborn child was a book. When she arrived we read it to her every day

Friends by Robin Dunbar review – why it pays to be sociable

Is it possible to have more than five very close friends? A miscellany of modern research reveals the life-saving power of our relationships

How to reconcile after a family rift

Estrangement is surprisingly common – so how can the injured parties put their differences aside?

When you can’t quit a crush

Falling head over heels in love is one thing, but if it becomes all-consuming you may be in ‘limerence’

How I found the special joy of nature in cities

You have to look – and sometimes very closely – but discovering small patches of woodland or flowers bursting through concrete makes me appreciate nature all the more