With record numbers of people choosing to remain childless and suggestions that parenthood isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, we look at what the science says

Everyday cognitive and psychological traps catch us all out, and occasionally end in disaster. So what are we doing to protect ourselves?

Hannah Fraser has done all sorts of jobs, from photoshoots and films to raising awareness about ocean conservation We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Life & Arts news every morning. I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t…

It all started in 1997 when I was a kid in Florida. My dad brought home a case of US rations from the Army Navy Store. The first one I had was a 1993 ham slice meal. I didn’t know how to work the heating pouch that came with it, I just ate it cold. I…

From power posing to dressing to impress, New Scientist runs down five confidence-boosting strategies that might just work

Dodgy results are fuelling flawed policy decisions and undermining medical advances. They could even make us lose faith in science. New Scientist investigates

Dodgy results are fuelling flawed policy decisions and undermining medical advances. They could even make us lose faith in science. New Scientist investigates LISTENING to When I’m Sixty-Four by The Beatles can make you younger. This miraculous…

Lead often gets a bad press. But its discovery in ancient Graeco-Roman ink could make it easier to read an early form of publishing – precious scrolls buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Some 800 scrolls, part of the classical world’s…

Blubbing isn’t always the sign of weakness it’s made out to be. The challenge is to work out when, how and why giving in to tears can be an advantage BRITISH tennis player Andy Murray knows what it’s like to be unpopular. Early in his career, his…

(Image: Aldo Sperber/picturetank) THIS October, the first conference dedicated to women without children will be held in Cleveland, Ohio. At The Not Mom Summit, academics, writers and inspirational speakers will cover topics like dating, volunteering…

Everyday cognitive and psychological traps catch us all out, and occasionally end in disaster. So what are we doing to protect ourselves? The human brain is capable of great creative feats – and the odd catastrophic piece of decision-making. We lose…

Get the beneficial effects of the sun's rays without a damaging overdose thanks to clever tech and some dietary tweaks

(Image: Westend61/ Getty) You excel in life by working hard and being competent, right? Maybe so, but a growing body of research suggests that’s not the whole story. What you wear, how you sit, even what’s in the room with you might increase your…

The shopping mall is dead, so was it once alive? (Image: Seph Lawless) WOULD you compare a shopping mall to a mountain? Or a wolf? Or a butterfly? In Thinking Like a Mall, Steven Vogel argues that it is unfair to care about the last three and…

Better than tomatoes (Image: Peter Roos/plainpicture) Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun, the song goes. Catching too many rays causes wrinkles and freckles at best, and deadly cancer at worst. And yet nothing feels quite as good…

Wine experts use some unusual words to describe the flavours of what they taste, and there's often more to it than flowery language. Discover the science behind the taste What: Cat urineTaste it in: Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand New…

YOU’VE rewritten your cover letter 20 times, Googled your interviewers and spent 2 hours polishing your shoes. Who could blame you for thinking you’ve given yourself a decent shot at landing a job? Unfortunately, there’s more to it than that. Your…