Welcome to our first weekender of 2019. No doubt the year is young enough for those resolutions to still be fresh in your mind. But if not, we’ve got some tips, based on the latest research, about how best to boost your health. This may or may not involve joining a gym and it may depend on how far you have come along the “seven ages of fitness”. One thing’s for sure, smoking’s not advised – and if you have already resolved to give up through vaping, it’s worth reading about the work that suggests people who quit through vaping are less inclined to return to the evil weed.

Those of you intent on keeping a healthy mind in that soon-to-be-fit body will find a visit to your local gallery great for what Hercule Poirot would call the little grey cells. But please don’t join the hordes jostling each other in a bid to take the perfect selfie – try remembering the art for once. In any case, research has found that relying on your smartphone can play havoc with your memories.

And while you are at the gallery looking at all those portraits, it’s worth having a think about whether beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder or whether there are objective measures of attractiveness. Work is in progress on a machine that can predict how attractive you are to the average person – which, given the billions spent on cosmetics and surgery each year, could prove very popular.

This week we also learned about the Welsh poet who fused touch and sight into sound and a close encounter with the Brazilian faith healer accused of sexual assault. From our colleagues around the world, you might like to read about the sinister practice of “ghosting” when you receive online messages, and Netflix’s involvement in Nigeria’s massive film industry.

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