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 woman wearing a pink head scarf facing towards the camera. Her face is out of focus and partially obscured by a bunch of flowers.
  • Serial
Part5

Identifying skin lightening agents in cosmetics

Could your moisturiser be damaging your health? If it contains skin-lightening agents, the answer is yes. But this is an area where consumers definitely do not have the upper hand.

Part of Skin Bleaching

Photograph of a woman dressed in a top hat and tails peeping around the red curtain on a theatre stage. Behind her is another glittering red curtain.
  • Essay

How the magician’s assistant creates the illusion

Without breaking the spell, performer Naomi Paxton reveals the subtle ways the magician’s assistant helps the audience to keep believing.
Photograph of the top half of a colour engraving showing the Sun and solar phenomena.
  • Image gallery

The healing sun

From ancient sun gods to artificial light, our relationship to our star has morphed over the centuries, but the sun's power to affect our health is more noticeable than ever.

Part of From Our Collections

Groan comic by Rob Bidder (detail)
  • Comic

Groan

Groans are to our primitive nature what language is to civilization. Uggggghhhh.

Part of Body Squabbles

Photograph of a woman wearing a blue head scarf facing away from the camera. The viewpoint is low down looking up at her. In the background is the warm yellow and orange colours of patterned lamp shades in a shop display.
  • Serial
Part4

The case for safe skin bleaching

Skin bleaching tends to attract a negative press for a whole host of reasons. But when used to treat medical problems, its positive side becomes clear.

Part of Skin Bleaching

Photograph of an illustration in a 17th century early printed book, of an imagined monster. Behind the book is a brown fur background.
  • Essay

Fantastic beasts and unnatural history

Find out how a 17th-century compendium of the natural world came to present fantastical beasts –like dragons – as real, living creatures.

Part of From Our Collections

Photograph of a watercolour painting against a textile background, depicting a semi naked man and woman kneeling in dirt next to a skeleton. Factory chimneys billowing smoke are in the background.
  • Image gallery

In pursuit of purity

Many cultures associate physical cleanliness with spiritual purity, while disease and dirt are signs of moral pollution.

Part of From Our Collections

Thought comic by Rob Bidder (detail)
  • Comic

Thought

Ever find your thoughts leading you down the same old paths?

Part of Body Squabbles

Photograph of a woman wearing a black head scarf facing away from the camera, with her hand held up against her cheek. In the background is the red front door of a house, some black railings and plants in a window box.
  • Serial
Part3

When skin bleaching goes wrong

Warnings about permanent health damage don’t deter those using skin-bleaching products for years on end. Read the story of one woman who suffered from liver failure after years of striving to be paler.

Part of Skin Bleaching

Photograph of an illustration of a naked man where the body of the man has been cut out and lifted above the background. Where the man's genitals should be there is a black hole with the torn edges folded forwards.
  • Book extract

The castration effect

Discover how testosterone – or the lack of it – affects the male body, from eunuch slaves to castrato singers, and on to hormone reduction in modern prostate cancer treatment.

Part of Inside Our Books

Image showing a woman smoking with coins in place of the smoke. The text reads: "So she said she was giving up smoking so she could save money and I said don't be daft you won't save a penny and my Norman agrees with me. But the next thing you know she's got herself one of those cut-out dresses and a trouser suit and a pair of those white boots on top of which she's got rid of that cough and what's more my Norman's dating her up. Honestly you can't trust some people can you!"
  • Image gallery

A medical history of smoking, from cure to killer

Today smoking is seen publicly as a deadly vice, privately perhaps as more of a guilty pleasure. Follow tobacco’s journey over the centuries from medical remedy to killer carcinogen.

Part of From Our Collections

Glass comic by Rob Bidder (detail)
  • Comic

Glass

Glasses help your eyes see more clearly but magnifying glass makes them superhuman.

Part of Body Squabbles

Photograph of the back of a woman's head and shoulders as she applies face cream in front of a wall mirror. In the reflection you can see her face, out of focus.
  • Serial
Part2

The desire for lighter skin

Discover why some Black people feel more attractive with lighter skin. Ngunan Adamu speaks to three women who explain how they got hooked on skin bleaching.

Part of Skin Bleaching

Photographic diptych showing a desk with a laptop, keyboard, notebooks and a globe, on the left and a close-up of a hand typing on a keyboard on the right.
  • Essay

How writing helps me manage schizophrenia

For Erica Crompton, writing is much more than a career. It’s an essential component of her mental health toolkit.
Photograph of a watercolour painting of a putto pouring a phial into a dragon's mouth. The watercolour is resting on a marble circular tabletop with rippled dark blue material on the floor beneath the table.
  • Image gallery

Putti of science

Chubby little winged boys known as putti frequently adorn scientific illustrations. Sometimes portrayed as reverent and sometimes cheeky, they guide our pursuit of knowledge.

Part of From Our Collections

Fascia comic by Rob Bidder (detail)
  • Comic

Fascia

Fascia holds you all together like an organic hairnet. Fascia is your friend.

Part of Body Squabbles

Photograph of a woman holding a circular mirror on her lap with both hands. In the reflection you can see her face, out of focus.
  • Serial
Part1

Colonialism and the origins of skin bleaching

The widespread practice of skin bleaching was heavily influenced by the Western colonisation and slavery of African and South Asian countries. Ngunan Adamu explores this toxic history.

Part of Skin Bleaching

Photograph of an illustration in an early printed book from the 15th century of a woman removing head lice from a young boy. behind the book on a wooden table top there is a gathering of worms.
  • Story

Parasites and pests from the medieval to the modern

Humans have been reluctant hosts to a plethora of unpleasant parasites for centuries. And medieval evidence shows our modern distaste for these little irritations is just as ancient.
Coloured line engraving of a woman swimming in the waves of the sea whilst behind people stand on the beach and cliffs.
  • Image gallery

Backstroke to the future

Now one of the most popular forms of exercise, the health-giving properties of swimming have not always been recognised. Dive into a gallery that charts the course from water as site of danger to a space of health.

Part of From Our Collections

Cyborgs comic by Rob Bidder (detail)
  • Comic

Cyborgs

Are your mobile calendar, camera and calls making you into a cellular cyborg?

Part of Body Squabbles