Articles

Our words and pictures explore the connections between science, medicine, life and art. Dive into one no matter where in the world you are.

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Photograph of a game of texas hold'em poker. Three cards reading eight of spades, ace of spades and eight of clubs have been dealt face up. To the side are four other hands of two cards which are hidden. A pack of cards waiting to be dealt is visible in the bottom left of the frame. Chips are present for each player, along with the dealer, big blind and small blind tokens. The lighting is moody and picks out the upturned cards. The ace has been decorated with the eye of the illuminati. The backs of the players cards also show the eye of the illuminati in a pyramid.
  • Serial
Part5

How to play in secret

In secret games the strangers around you are playing too. They just don’t know it. Read on for some great ideas for undercover fun at work, school – or almost anywhere.

Part of How to play

Illustration using a montage technique combining monotone photographs and colour graphics, showing a man with a crazed smile and hands and legs going in all directions. He is surrounded by wine glasses and bottles, palying cards and the words, give me more, want, money, now, buy, new, sex. Behind him against a red background are orange streamer and yellow stars. Either side of the frame are yellow and black hazard tape strips.
  • Article

Dating on dopamine

Drug treatment for Parkinson’s can come with an unwanted side serving of compulsive behaviour, as Pete Langman discovered. Read about his dating journey in a dopamine cloud.

Photograph of an open page of a book showing an inserted booklet open at a double page with an illustration of a woman on each page. The illustration contains the colour palette of red, purple and violet. In each illustration the woman is using a wired handheld apparatus held against her scalp and upper arm.
  • In pictures

Tesla, quacks and violet rays

Imagine a device that can treat everything from baldness to gout. Too good to be true? Yes, and it was banned – but not before hundreds were hoodwinked.

Part of Inside Our Collections

Slice of socialisation comic by Rob Bidder. The slice depicts a sponge wringing itself, with a pool of water forming below it.
  • Comic

Socialisation

We are sponges in the sink of society.

Part of Body Squabbles

Photograph of a scrabble board filled with high scoring words to the left of the frame. In the centre there are several words interlaced with each other that read 'Try Harder Loser'. The background colour is apple green.
  • Serial
Part4

How to play with people who are better than you

It’s frustrating to lose a game to the same player every time. But help is at hand. Discover the ways you can make a game respond dynamically to participants so everyone has a chance of winning.

Part of How to play

Photograph of the corner of a room showing the walls and a section of the wooden floor. On the floor is an arrangement of cardboard boxes. Onto the whole scene is projected an image of a forest and an elephant. The boxes have assumed the shape of the elephant and have its image projected onto their sides.
  • Book extract

Why make-believe matters

Michael Rosen explores the point of play, and reveals why we should all do a little more daydreaming.

Part of Inside Our Books

A young woman on a chaise lounge in her boudoir with a visiting couple, while her maid prepares her medicine.
  • In pictures

The lost art of convalescence

The efficacy of antibiotics and the demands of work mean we rarely convalesce after an illness. But in the past it was an important part of the return to health.

Slice of Sick comic by Rob bidder. The illustration depicts people sat on a bus, with the central figure wearing a red coat and hat, with their eyes shut.
  • Comic

Loneliness

Sometimes all we want is human connection and the feeling of being alive alongside each other.

Part of Body Squabbles

Photograph of a board game of snakes and ladders made of wood, sitting on a yellow background. The snakes on the board game are drinking alcohol. Surrounding the board are five shot glasses, three of which are brimming with alcohol, and two which have been spilled. In the centre right of the frame there are two dice reading the numbers five and three.
  • Serial
Part3

How to play with drunk people

Lower your inhibitions and join Holly Gramazio for fast-paced games made even more fun by alcohol.

Part of How to play

Photograph of an oil painting hung on a light blue wall, depicting 3 saints. The painting is partially hidden behind a blue concertina hospital ward curtain on the left of the frame. To the right is an x-ray lightbox also hung on the wall, with an x-ray of a hand taped to its surface. on the little finger of the hand you can see the outline of a ring.
  • Article

The ancient doctors who refused payment

The NHS might only be 70 years old, but the idea of free healthcare goes back to Ancient Greece, when devout doctors provided their services without charge.

Poster for a performance featuring children rushing out of school to play on the see-saw, their books and caps are on the ground.
  • In pictures

Born to play

Our understanding of the importance of play in a child’s development has become increasingly sophisticated over the centuries. Explore the ways different eras have regarded childhood games.

Part of Inside Our Collections

Photograph of a board game placed to the left of the frame, featuring museums from various countries, red, green, blue and yellow counters, and two red dice. In the centre of the frame is a laser cut wooden tyrannosaurus rex model.
  • Serial
Part2

How to play in a museum

Some museums create games for visitors to play. In others, if you’re creative and inquisitive, you can make up your own. Find out how a game can give you a different perspective on art and objects.

Part of How to play

Photograph of a petri dish containing colourful swirls of blue, yellow, orange and black spots, made from ink, watercolour, pva and resin.
  • Article

Bringing biotech to the people

Amateur scientists have inspired all kinds of frightening scenarios, from Frankenstein’s monster to ‘The Fly’ and ‘Breaking Bad’. But it can be a force for good. Today’s DIYbio enthusiasts are having fun – and even making lucrative breakthrough discoveries.

Saint Simon Stylites the elder stands in a pulpit at the top of a column, curing the people below him with his blessing. Below left, a man (epileptic?) being released from possession by a devil (the devil is flying out of his mouth); below right, a crippled man with a crutch, a woman with a baby in swaddling clothes, and a priest. The Greek lettering reads: Ho hagios Syme¯on ho stylit¯es.
  • In pictures

The smell of saintliness

It’s the tenth century and your local ascetic has died. Remarkably, his body emits a sweet, pleasant smell, and fragrant oils instead of foul liquids and odours. Read on to find out how this could be.

Sick comic by Rob Bidder (detail)
  • Comic

Sick

How do you spend a sick day?

Part of Body Squabbles

A photograph of a bottom right section of a board game featuring a city underground map with animal place names such as Moo Gate, Ham Heath and Oxen Circus is visible in the top left of the frame. In the bottom section are two die with the numbers five and three, 5 toy cows and a toy London Underground Carriage.
  • Serial
Part1

How to play on the District line between Stepney Green and Embankment

From the crossword to the smartphone, distractions for the commuter relieve the tedium of crowded, dull journeys. Game designer Holly Gramazio delves into the world of games for trains.

Part of How to play

Photograph of a collage of torn up pieces of a photographic print all piled up randomly on top of each other. There are fragments of eyes, lips, hair and dark and light tones.
  • Article

How trauma affects the body and mind

The long and devastating aftermath of an attack have given writer and broadcaster Bidisha unique insight into the suffering of other victims. Here she explores survival and healing in those who have experienced trauma.

Watercolour comic on a farm featuring different images of badgers looking kind or aggressive and lots of outlines of animal and human bodies in blue tones.
  • In pictures

Badger culling and farmers’ mental health

Artist Diana Boyer portrays a farmer's thoughts as she goes about her work in a high-risk area for bovine TB.

Atoms comic by Rob Bidder (detail)
  • Comic

Atoms

What song makes your body sing?

Part of Body Squabbles

Photograph of a young woman playing a flute against a blue background. The slow exposure of the camera causes her movements to be traced across the image as a blur. She is surrounded by wisps of smoke.
  • Article

Dementia playlists and musical memory

Listening to the right music can provide both solace and pleasure for someone with dementia, helping them to reconnect with the world around them. Grace Meadows makes the case for more music in dementia care.

Part of Music Matters