The 4-Minute Workout: “Thanks to an ingratiating new study, we may finally be closer to answering that ever-popular question regarding our health and fitness: How little exercise can I get away with? The answer, it seems, may be four minutes. For the study, which was published last month in the journal PLoS One, researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, and other institutions attempted to delineate the minimum amount of exercise required to develop appreciable endurance and health gains. They began by reconsidering their own past work, which had examined the effects of a relatively large dose of high-intensity intervals on various measures of health and fitness.”

9 Simple Steps to Happiness: “A few years ago, Debbie Jankowski went hunting for a way to bring her life new joy. She found the solution in her bank account. “I had always been thrifty, but I decided it was time to spend money on things that would broaden my world,” says Jankowski, who lives in Philadelphia. She splurged on sightseeing in Ireland and jungle-roaming in Costa Rica with her husband, along with a yoga retreat closer to home. “These outings have refreshed me and given me perspective,” she says. New research confirms what Jankowski discovered: Money can buy happiness — if you spend wisely. We asked experts to explain this and other glee strategies, none of which require rose-colored glasses or doing anything with life’s lemons.”