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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Two St. Bernard dogs with an avalanche victim, one tries to revive him while the other alerts the rescue party.
  • In pictures

Dogs to the rescue

Explore artworks and archive photographs showing how our four-legged friends have been helping humans for hundreds of years.

Artwork using collage. The collaged elements are made up of archive material which includes vintage photographs, etchings, painted illustrations, lithographic prints and line drawings. This artwork depicts a scene with an urban and rural combined background, where high chimneys billowing smoke and skyscrapers rise in the distance. In the middle distance an are tall palm trees and an expanse of water with a small boat. In the foreground on the left is a lion on his hind legs, mouth open in a roar. Behind and to the right of the lion is a large blue hardback book. On the cover is the figure of a naked man with his arms outstretched above his head. Branches grow out of his arms, torso and legs and roots grow out of his feet. Next to the book is an empty artist's easel with a stretched canvas leaning against it. In the centre of the image a man in a shirt and tie sits cross legged with a notebook on his lap, looking to one side. A tear falls down his right cheek. He is leaning against a large bottle with the word 'alcohol' written on its label. To the far right are a couple of suitcases, one is open with a red heart inside, the other has a building floor plan drawn on its lid. In the blue sky on the right is a helicopter and on the left, a moon like orb.
  • Serial
Part3

How homesickness inspires art

Gail Tolley looks at homesickness through the eyes of three contemporary artists and finds powerful new themes of identity and connection.

Part of The heart of homesickness

Photograph of a drawing of St James's Church, with three people standing outside its gate. In the road in front of the church another person is directing a small herd of cattle. In the background are other buildings and a person on horseback. The church is flanked by tall trees on either side. Accompanying text reads 'Turnpike in the Hampstead Road, and St James's Church, in 1820.'. The drawing has been photographed against a concrete textured background.
  • In pictures

Euston’s lost burial ground

Closing St James’s Gardens for a new rail line required the largest exhumation in British history. Tom Bolton explores the stories of some of the people who were buried there.

Artwork using collage. The collaged elements are made up archive material which includes, vintage photographs, etchings, painted illustrations, lithographic prints and line drawings. This artwork depicts a scene with an urban and rural combined background, where high snow covered mountain peaks rise in the distance. In the middle distance a Scottish piper stands on the hillside playing bagpipes, a lion stands on top of a cluster of large glass and metal skyscrapers and a tall ship in full sail crosses a section of ocean. In the foreground on the left is the head of a man who looks a little like an explorer with a rope over his shoulder and a hat on his head. A tear falls from his eye. Next to him stands a group of doctors all wearing white knee length lab coats. Next to them are a couple of suitcases over which a tiger is crawling. To the far right a group of french revolutionary soldiers surge forward with a tattered flag. In the sky is an aeroplane and the planet Earth.
  • Serial
Part2

The hidden history of homesickness

Gail Tolley delves into the history of homesickness and discovers that its rich past holds a clue to how we view the experience today.

Part of The heart of homesickness

Photograph of the right hand of a pair of rubber gloves. The orange and yellow glove is standing upright, fingers into the air, on an orange background. The glove is padded so it looks as if there is a hand inside it. Sticking out of the glove all over the surface are metal carpentry nails, points outwards. The scene is lit by a hard contrasty light which is casting a long dark shadow of the glove and nails onto the background.
  • Article

Pain and the power of touch

As a new physiotherapist, Fiona Murphy quickly learned that her patients’ pain was unpredictable and very personal. But using the right words became the key to helping them.

Photograph of a woman from her shoulders to her feet, wearing an emerald green dress with a shiny lustre. She is standing with her right hand on her hip and in her left hand she is holding a small hand bag in front of her left leg. In the background can be seen a park or woodland scene with a footpath disappearing into the distance. On either side of the path is green vegetation.
  • Article

Dress and the magic of touch

Fashion, of course, is largely about appearance, but the feeling of clothes on your skin is a complex sensory experience. Shahidha Bari contemplates the human connections in the business of creating and wearing clothes.

Artwork using collage. The collaged elements are made up archive material which includes, vintage photographs, etchings, painted illustrations, lithographic prints and line drawings. This artwork depicts a man on the right hand side with his head resting on his hand. Forming a headdress on his head are pictures of a bed, two dogs, a house, flowers and an elderly man and woman. These elements are repeated on the left hand side much larger. In between the two sides is a rural and city skyline merged together. It the sky is an aeroplane and the planet Saturn and a large colourful bird in flight carrying a heart in its beak.
  • Serial
Part1

The complex longing for home

It could be mild, an almost poetic longing. Or it could be visceral, deep, an overwhelming feeling that eats into your everyday life. Come with Gail Tolley as she introduces a deep dive into homesickness.

Part of The heart of homesickness

Photograph of a close up view of bubbles on the surface of stagnant water. The film of slime over the surface of the water has a blue tinge to it. Within the bubbles is green algae . The image has a shallow depth of field, focussing on the the bubbles in the centre of the frame.
  • Article

A journey through slime

Did you know that slime cells signal to each other and seek out multiple partners? Welcome to bath time with Abi Palmer – and some revolting yet awe-inspiring grey slime.

Digital artwork made up of collage elements, line drawing and textured patterns.The artwork depicts 2 women reclined in each others arms as if on a sofa. The woman behind is kissing the other woman on the cheek. Each woman has a different skin tone. Behind the reclining couple as if on the walls of the living room is a framed picture of the DNA helix and a diagram of the female reproductive organ with syringes as if in a fertility procedure. The tones of the artwork are creams, rusts, browns and reds.
  • Story

Mixed heritage lesbian couples and fertility treatment

For a lesbian couple who want to share their different cultural heritages with their child, fertility treatment can get very complicated.

Photographic full length portrait of a man in a white t-shirt sitting on a leather sofa. In front of him to the left of the frame is a wooden table with a laptop, keyboard and beat-box. To the right of the frame is a bass speaker and a floor standing lamp. Beside him on the sofa is a hat. A single line of text is legible on both the T-shirt and hat, reading 'Viewable'.
  • Article

Giving shape to sound

Fascinated by language and how music feels, Deaf rapper Signkid creates tracks that give shape to sound. He discusses inspiration, access and performing for all audiences, D/deaf and hearing alike.

Part of Art, activism and access

Photographic full length portrait of a woman outside in a woodland scene. She is walking along a rough footpath towards the camera, fingers loosely clasped together. She is looking off to the left. To her left are a series of tree trunks and surrounding the path and the in the background is the green of the grass and leaves of the trees.
  • Book extract

How stories bring us together

Elif Shafak considers how hard it is to be heard in our divided world, but how listening can nurture wisdom, connection and empathy.

Part of Inside Our Books

Photograph of a facsimile of an oil painting in a thin wooden frame, hung within the large green leaf foliage of a bush. The oil painting depicts a scene where a man is giving a small child a vaccination. The child is sat on it's mother's knee and the older sister and father figures look on. The scene is set in the 18th century.
  • Article

Cowpox, Covid-19 and Jenner’s vaccination legacy

The well-known story of vaccination pioneer Edward Jenner has at its heart his drive to make vaccines free of charge and available to all. Now his principles extend to the global campaign for a people’s patent-free vaccine for Covid-19.

Poster warning of the dangers to children from syphilis, showing a young girl standing with a crutch.
  • Article

Public health campaigns and the ‘threat’ of disability

By continuing to represent disability as the feared outcome of disease, public health campaigns help to perpetuate prejudice against disabled people.

Photograph of a man and his mother sat side by side on a sofa in a living room. The man is seated on the right with his arms crossed. He is leaning towards his mother. His mother seated on the left is laughing out loud and leaning in towards her son, placing her right hand over his eyes and forehead. In the background is a shelving unit containing books, ornaments, bottles of spirits and family photographs.
  • Podcast
  • Serial
Part6

What lies ahead

After five long months, Mark Thomas is moving out of his mum’s and looking ahead. In the final episode of his podcast, Mark asks his network of health workers how they feel about the future.

Part of Mark Thomas’s lockdown check-up

Photograph of a chart showing locations on the large Intestine channel of arm yangming where acupuncture is prohibited during the eighth month of pregnancy, from Ishinpo [Chinese: Yi xin fang] (Remedies at the Heart of Medicine), by the Japanese author Yasuyori Tanba. The chart is resting on a concrete textured background.
  • In pictures

Imagining the foetus

From the miniature adult in the womb imagined by 15th-century artists to the increasing detail of today’s ultrasound scans, Tania McIntosh traces our changing view of the human foetus.

Part of Inside Our Collections

Photograph of a man and his mother in a kitchen. The man wearing a black t-shirt is stood behind his mother who is sitting on a chair. The man is looking straight to camera, leaning slightly forward, his arms resting on the arms of the chair which are out of shot. His mother is wearing a pink blouse and is looking vertically upwards towards him. She is holding her walking stick up towards him, handle end first. In the background are kitchen units, a Tupperware box of biscuits and the tap of the sink.
  • Podcast
  • Serial
Part5

Stress tests

In episode five of his podcast, Mark Thomas considers coping and resilience, talking to health workers about how they’re weathering a storm like coronavirus.

Part of Mark Thomas’s lockdown check-up

Photograph of a contraceptive pill model, Europe, c. 1970. White crackled glaze, with debossed "THE PILL" text in centre, on a grey concrete textured background.
  • In pictures

A brief history of contraception

From douches to diaphragms, and condoms to caps, discover the wide range of contraception methods people have used over the centuries.

Part of Inside Our Collections

Photograph of a man and his mother stood side by side in a patio doorway. The man wearing a black t-shirt and blue trousers standing on the left is holding a plant pot containing a pink flowering plant. He is looking to camera with a long suffering look on his face. His mother, standing on the right, is wearing a pink blouse and blue patterned skirt and is looking towards him, her face in profile. Her right hand is holding the handle of her walking stick. To the left of them can be seen the patio doors with a bunch of keys in the lock and the brick wall of the back of the house. To the right of them is a section of the door frame.
  • Podcast
  • Serial
Part4

Splendid isolation

In episode four of his lockdown podcast, comedian Mark Thomas considers the impact isolation is having on him and his mum, and on the health workers he chats to every night.

Part of Mark Thomas’s lockdown check-up

  • Article

When contemporary dance meets dyspraxia

Discover why a rare neurological condition meant an enthusiastic club-night dancer struggled with formal dance classes. And how persisting with those classes paid off.

Photograph of an old retractable cine film projector screen and stand, in the corner of a white walled room. To the right of the screen can be seen the reveals of a window with marble-like window sill and moulded wooden panels. On the screen is projected an archive black and white film of a man's face in profile just after he has sneezed. The film has captured the spread of the water droplets of his sneeze, backlight white against a dark background.
  • In pictures

How wartime propaganda encouraged Brits to wear masks

Unlike the UK government today, Churchill’s War Ministry presented a united front on the efficacy of mask-wearing to protect people from illness. And a 1941 propaganda film helped, with striking images created using the new art of electronic flash photography.