Winter can seem dark and dreary wherever you live, but for those above the Arctic Circle, the season is quite literally marked by little to no daylight. So experts in Nordic countries are well-versed in helping residents beat the winter blues. “It’s not like it’s a fate, an annual or a seasonal fate, and you cannot do anything about it,” Christian Benedict, a pharmacology professor at Uppsala University in Sweden, told the Associated Press. “There are possibilities to affect it.” Get advice for brightening up dark days. — the Nice News team
Featured Story
9 Historical Figures’ Homes You Can Tour Virtually or in Person
Sean Pavone/ iStock
Anyone who’s eagerly tuned in to Architectural Digest’s digital series exploring celebrity homes knows thatthere’s something particularly fascinating about getting a glimpse at how notable people live. And when it comes to the abodes of famous figures from years past, that curiosity can be fairly classified as historical interest. Viewing the homes of people who changed culture, politics, science, and more goes further than mere intrigue: It can also help us contextualize our existence today. We rounded up nine historical figures’ houses you can walk through — from Judy Garland’s to Abraham Lincoln’s (pictured) — including a few that offer virtual tours accessible from the comfort of your couch.
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What do marry me chicken, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the U.K.’s Royal Botanic Gardens have in common? They’re among the world’s top trending queries of 2025, according to a recent report from Google. Using data from Jan. 1 through Nov. 25, the 2025 Year in Search “compiles the moments, people, topics, events, and places that captured the world’s attention this year,” the tech giant said, per USA Today, adding: “By looking at top trending searches, we’re identifying topics that saw huge spikes in 2025, which means they’re unique to this year compared to last year.” Google clarified that the results are distinct from the top searches by numbers, which tend to change very little each year. Other notable trending searches that made it onto one of the various categories’ top five lists include the Los Angeles wildfires, Apple TV+’s Severance, Pope Leo XIV, and Alex Warren’s hit song “Ordinary.” Click here to explore more global trending searches and here to see what people in the U.S. Googled.
Health
How to Maintain Healthy Routines Amid the Hustle and Bustle of the Holidays
AleksandarNakic/iStock
As exciting as the holidays are, they tend to come with a flurry of festive events that can make it more difficult to stick to healthy routines. But thankfully, there are realistic steps you can take to keep those habits up. According to Samantha Harden, an associate professor at Virginia Tech’s Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, a few simple strategies can help you maintain your overall well-being while still enjoying the season to the fullest. The first is to shift your expectations. “We expect to have time off and be our ‘best selves’ when we step back from work and have all the space to create healthy routines,” which often leads to disappointment when we actually find ourselves overwhelmed with holiday activities, Harden said in a news release. Instead, she suggests weaving realistic wellness practices into your holiday traditions, like taking a family walk after dinner and adding extra time to your travel itinerary to avoid unnecessary stress. Along those same lines, Harden recommends prioritizing the six dimensions of well-being: happiness, mental and physical health, close social relationships, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and material and financial stability. “Maybe during the holiday season, you’re putting less time or other resources into your physical well-being, but you’re putting more into your perception of close social relationships,” she said. “Let that be enough on your well-being checklist.”See her full list of tips.
Environment
Joyful Dancing Gorilla Stars in the Funniest Wildlife Pic of 2025
There are countless end-of-year roundups and best-of lists that come along in December, but none are quite as delightful as the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards. This year’s winning photos were announced Tuesday at a ceremony in London, and all the funny finalists will be on display at the city’s OXO Gallery through today. The overall winner is Mark Meth-Cohn with this joyful shot of a young gorilla appearing to dance in a Rwandan forest clearing, titled “High Five.” In a press release, the U.K.-based photographer recalled the four days he spent exploring the Virunga Mountains in search of gorilla families. “On this particular day, we came across a large family group known as the Amahoro family, they were gathered in a forest clearing where the adults were calmly foraging while the youngsters were enthusiastically playing,” Meth-Cohn said. “One young male was especially keen to show off his acrobatic flair: pirouetting, tumbling, and high kicking. Watching his performance was pure joy, and I’m thrilled to have captured his playful spirit in this image.” Check out the rest of the winning shots — and consider forwarding this on to someone who could use a good laugh.
Cynthia Erivo has received her share of accolades: The Wicked star is a Tony Award winner and recently made Golden Globes history as the first Black woman to be nominated twice in the best actress category. But she’s also been told she’s “too much” — something she’s learned to embrace about herself over the years. In a series of personal vignettes (including how she prepared for her Elphaba audition), Erivo shares what it means to live authentically, the ways she’s grown personally and professionally, and her advice for readers looking to do the same.
Starring Helen Mirren as a family matriarch with a terminal illness whose adult children gather just before Christmas to bid her farewell, Goodbye June marks two impressive debuts: Kate Winslet as director, and her son Joe Anders as screenwriter. The funny but heartrending film was partially inspired by their own experience saying goodbye to Winslet’s mother, and the actor found herself reliving that part of her life while filming. Beneath the sadness, though, the feature is really about family, she said in an interview with Netflix: “It is cathartic.” The movie is playing in select theaters now and will hit the streaming service Dec. 24 — read more about the filmmaking process.
This Week in History
Novelist Jane Austen Is Born
December 16, 1775
GeorgiosArt/ iStock
Jane Austen was born250 years ago this Tuesday in Hampshire, England, the seventh of eight children in a family that often read aloud to each other. Her father, the rector of a local parish, nurtured a love of learning in his brood, while her mother was considered “a woman of ready wit,” per Britannica. The family’s pastime was acting out plays they’d written themselves. Austen’s earliest writings date to around 1787, when she was 12. At age 20, she began a rather prolific phase in which she produced the novels Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbey. She continued to write, never marrying, until her death in 1817. Today, her birthday is celebratedby fans (or “Janeites”) the world over, including with an annual party held at her final home — learn how to tune in virtually.
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