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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Photographic full length portrait of two women in a meeting room with blue patterned carpet and a red and white spot patterned wall. One woman is seated, sideways to camera looking over her shoulder at the lens. The other woman in sitting on a circular table looking to camera, one leg crossed over the other. Her glasses are folded on the table top beside her.
  • Article

The shocking ‘treatment’ to make lesbians straight

Being a lesbian has never been a crime in the UK, but 50 years ago, some psychologists experimented with treatments to try to ‘cure’ women of their orientation. Find out what this involved.

Watercolour painting showing an unconscious naked man lying on a table being attacked by little demons armed with surgical instruments
  • In pictures

How chloroform shaped the murder mystery

Find out how a sweet-smelling liquid anaesthetic captured the public’s imagination and changed pop culture for ever.

Part of Inside Our Collections

Slice of comic by Rob Bidder, depicting two figures at a birthday party, with balloons and bunting in the background.
  • Comic

Age

Aging and decay are natural and fine.

Part of Body Squabbles

Photograph of a woman standing an exhibition gallery smiling to camera. To the left of her is an exhibition text panel with the title 'Toys Like Us' written above it. In the distance behind her to the right are exhibition exhibits and a tv screen.
  • Article

An insider’s view of Play Well

Curator Shamita Sharmacharja offers behind-the-scenes insights into an exhibition about the serious business of play.

Photograph of model railway scenery depicting a walled cemetery containing seven graves. Models of a man holding flowers and a clergyman strand over the graves. Three of the headstones are made of actual size USB memory sticks standing on their ends. On the sticks is the text, USB 3.0, 32GB.
  • Article

Death and our digital ghosts

When we die, our data lives on. And as companies are increasingly spotting money-making opportunities from digital legacies, now could be the time to think about – and control – yours.

  • In pictures

The post-war adverts that tried to cure lonely women

Isolated housewives, lonely female office workers: while the 1950s saw the birth of a general concern about them, manufacturers also spotted an opportunity. Find out how advertising promised that products could salve solitude.

Part of Inside Our Collections

A raised fist in the air against a pink sky with clouds.
  • Comic

Fist

The power of an ordinary fist.

Part of Body Squabbles

Photograph of a three-fold table beauty mirror with built-in light on a glass patterned tabletop, against a dark red background. On the table in front of the mirror is an open jar of face cream. In the reflections of the mirror an old advertisement for Dr. Mackenzie's Arsenical Soap, be seen.
  • Article

Our endless quest for eternal youth

From poisonous 16th-century cosmetics to the latest “vampire facelift”, discover the fashions in unsavoury methods for improving our appearance.

Photograph of the carved wooden head of a woman against a black background. On the woman's head is an elaborate headdress. The head is cropped by the bottom of the frame just below her eyes.
  • Article

Mask, ritual and fertility

Today many of us learn about fertility, conception and pregnancy online. But that wasn’t always the way. Discover how masks and rituals played an important educational role.

Part of Inside Our Collections

Photograph of a coloured etching from 1824 titled, Veduta del lazzeretto di S. Rocco. Pom Lapi scul. The etching shows a panoramic view of a harbour scene with small boats in the foreground.
  • In pictures

Why we still need quarantine

For years, quarantine has been an important measure to curb the spread of infection and avert further deaths. Discover the way it has been used in the past and why it is still necessary today.

Part of Inside Our Collections

A slide of Chalk comic by Rob Bidder, which shows a figure tallying scores on a board with chalk.
  • Comic

Chalk

You'll never look at chalk the same way again.

Part of Body Squabbles

Photograph of an older man in a white lab coat siting at a work table in a domestic house. He is holding white glass tubing. In front of him on the table is a small gas burning torch, glass rods, a box of glass eyes and a small lamp on a stand.
  • Photo story

The last glass-eye maker in Britain

Meet Jost Haas – the UK’s last artificial-eye maker working exclusively with glass.

Photograph of a young woman sitting on the side of a bed in a hospital ward, light by the light of the setting sun streaming in through the window. She is wearing a pink polo shirt smiling to camera. Behind her are the blue bay curtains and monitoring devices of a typical hospital setting. On a table to the left is an open pink case containing nail varnish beauty products.
  • Article

Hands-on healthcare

A young hospital volunteer feared her contribution was a long way from the serious business of real healthcare. But time spent painting patients’ nails proved to be a valuable contribution to life on the ward.

Photograph of an open page from an 1859 illustrated volume showing injuries sustained from accidents with green arsenic. Illustrations show hands and other body parts tinted green and yellow, with open sores and cuts.
  • In pictures

Toxic trends

The high cost of fashion is not always in the price tag. Sometimes the latest make-up trend or the season's hottest colour conceals something ugly.

A slice of Gifts comic by Rob Bidder. Someone wearing a Christmas hat is leaping with their hands outstretched, from a basket filled with gifts.
  • Comic

Gifts

Gifts. We all get them. Even when we'd rather not.

Part of Body Squabbles

Photograph of a ripped up board game where three board pieces are visible, facing upwards. scattered around the orange table are pieces of the board game, including green houses, red hotels, the board pieces and some fake money. The game title in the money reads "Tantrum". Other squares on the board game read "Collect your keys as you exit the door", "don't chance it", "board-flip station", "community conflict resolution", and "turn on the water works".
  • Serial
Part6

How not to play

Here are seven ways to sidestep doing as you’re told in a game. But strangely, they seem to be as much a part of playing as the game itself.

Part of How to play

Photograph of a woman next to a window which is covered over the outside in rain drops. On the window sill are an assortment of seashells. The woman is looking straight to camera, wearing a grey jacket. Hanging from her jacket pocket are about 10 tampons.
  • Article

Bloody capitalism and the cash flow of the menstrual cycle

Once they thrived on taboos and shame. Now period-product manufacturers are finding new ways to flourish in this era of period activism – but products aren’t the end of the story.

Photograph of an open book on a grey textured background. The book is at an angle with only part of the left hand page visible. The right hand page has a full page illustration of a woman's head, revealing the layers of tissue and bone between her mouth and right eye. Below her head is a floral illustration.
  • In pictures

Our bodies inside out

A series of exquisite ink and watercolour illustrations reveal the incredible things going on under our skin.

Part of Inside Our Books

A slice of Roots comic by Rob Bidder. A figure is checking the soil of a houseplant with their finger.
  • Comic

Roots

What would your houseplants say to you?

Part of Body Squabbles

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