How AI and brain science are helping perfumiers create fragrances

Beauty brands are looking to neuroscent research and technology to sniff out the factors that lure buyers

The business of silence: is there a hidden cost to noise cancelling?

Headphone and earplug sales are booming, but individual efforts to turn down the volume may alter our brains and surrounds in unexpected ways

Doom busters: why some things aren’t (quite) as bad as we think

We live in worrying times. From the climate crisis to the culture wars, there is always something to keep us fretting. But sometimes the facts tell a different story – a more hopeful one. Here, we speak to experts in search of some optimism and find 13 reasons to be a little more cheerful

Stop phubbing! The 10 rules of smartphone etiquette – from the bathroom to your bed

How do you use your phone without snubbing everyone around you? Experts explain when to pick it up and when to switch on ‘do not disturb’

‘I deleted my Twitter account’: eight readers on how they avoid digital burnout

Screen time can feel all-consuming. But there are ways to combat it. Guardian readers explain the rules, hobbies and habits that help them maintain healthy lives offline