Health

The pioneering light boxes helping Orkney islanders avoid seasonal affective disorder

Wintering Well boxes to counter effects of low light on mental health are ‘super popular’, says island librarian

Pig organ transplants could one day be superior to human ones, says expert

Surgeon leading xenotransplantation trial aimed at solving shortage of human organs says edits can lessen risk of rejection

The secrets of the body clock: how to tune into your natural rhythms

Our circadian cycle doesn’t just affect our sleeping and waking, but our motivations, mood, behaviour and alertness. Whether you are a lark or an owl, here’s how to recognise your own rhythm

The joy of leftovers

From cheeseboard pies to spiced-up veg and one last sweet flourish, this is how to eat, waste less and savour the lull between Christmas and New Year

With numbers of abandoned cats soaring, we somehow found ourselves with 11

How our two-bedroom terrace become something of a cat rescue centre is illustration of nationwide crisis

Now is the time to be bold and give your garden a reshuffle

The best plots are the ones that dare to change, and the start of a new year is the perfect time to move around your plants

A child is born: Italians celebrate village’s first baby in 30 years

Feted birth of bambina Lara in Pagliara dei Marsi highlights sticky national debate over country’s ‘demographic winter’

Fat, fearless and over 50. Thanks to my TikTok outfit posts, I feel powerful and seen

After a debilitating illness, they’ve given me a reason to get out of bed – and I now have TikTokers who love me back

Year in wildlife

We look back over the year’s wildlife photographs, and hand out some much-deserved gongs to brilliant and beautiful creatures around the world

The hill I will die on: Washing-up bowls are horrible and should be banned

These unhygienic, offensive lumps of plastic do everything the sink does, and less. It’s time to get rid

Meet the Twixmas jumper – the perfect knit for right now

No Santas, no reindeer and zero tolerance of gingerbread men – go for a sweater that is cosy and special but not overtly Christmassy

Helen Goh’s recipe for an espresso martini pavlova bar

A selection of meringues, boozy cherries, coffee mascarpone and whisky caramel to mix and match until Big Ben strikes and beyond