How to be a good listener: my mission to learn the most important skill of all

The author Kate Murphy thinks our inability to listen properly to other people is leaving us all feeling isolated. In a world of smartphones and busy schedules, can we re-engage?

How to maintain healthy cholesterol levels

Regular testing will spot if you have high cholesterol, but it’s best to make early changes to your lifestyle to minimise the risk of a heart attack or stroke

Richard Layard: ‘It’s in politicians’ self-interest to make policies for happiness’

The economist on the science of happiness – and how it can help us rethink the world

‘She said she’d be babysitting our embryo’: what’s it like to carry a child for a friend?

Surrogacy between friends can be life-changing. The people who have done it talk emotions, legal hurdles – and WhatsApp birthing groups

‘Enjoy your mountin’: Utah cancels state-issued condoms over innuendo

Republican governor objects to ‘sexual innuendo as part of a taxpayer-funded campaign’ to prevent spread of HIV

‘Like going back 40 years’: dismay as Bolsonaro backs abstinence-only sex ed

Brazilian president’s plan to cut teenage pregnancies inspired by a Christian pressure group and Trump’s approach in the US

How might A&E departments without targets work? Look to sexual health clinics

Accident and emergency makes the headlines. Meanwhile, under-reported services are collapsing through lack of funding, says the Guardian’s Polly Toynbee

Male rape survivors suffer in silence. We need to help them talk

Gender norms compound the trauma for men who are victims of rape and sexual abuse. It’s time to give them support, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones

Cuttin’ It review – tale of friendship and FGM still wields terrible power

Charlene James’s 2016 play about female genital mutilation combines a powerful social message with bursts of humour

‘Body positivity’ has had its day. Let’s find peace with ourselves

Women are now told to feel good about their bodies – whatever their shape – but it’s not as simple as that