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53 results
  • Article
  • Article

Children in burns prevention campaigns

| Shane Ewen

Whose responsibility is it to prevent accidental burns and scalds in the home? Shane Ewen’s research shows that it’s everyone’s concern.

  • Article
  • Article

Intertwined with air

| Siwakorn OdochaoJennifer Katanyoutanant

Siwakorn Odochao details his people’s way of perceiving trees and humans as intimately connected, and draws on the air as the element that weaves between them. Through the co-dependency of humans and trees to prepare the air for each other, he elaborates on the relationship between air, health and environment.

  • Article
  • Article

When the sun goes down

| Charlotte SleighGergo Varga

Despite the country’s colonial and industrial dominion, the finest minds of Victorian Britain began to fear the devastating effects of declining natural resources. Even the death of the sun.

  • Article
  • Article

A message from my skin

| Sydney BakerCat O’Neil

As wildfires threatened Seattle, resident Sydney Baker experienced corresponding flares of acne and rashes. Her skin was telling her something about the health of the world around her.

  • In pictures
  • In pictures

Bloodletting at the barber-surgeon’s

| Amelia Soth

Scratchy throat? Burning fever? Broken heart? It all comes down to the same issue: too much blood.

  • Article
  • Article

Delusional recycling and the problem with plastic

| Arianne ShahvisiIfada Nisa

Many of us are guilty of wishful thinking when it comes to our rubbish. Arianne Shahvisi exposes shaky recycling infrastructure and overseas dumping, arguing for an end to waste colonialism.

  • Article
  • Article

The psychological impact of nuclear war

| Taras Young

How would you hold up psychologically if a nuclear bomb was dropped? Discover the British government’s secret predictions from the 1980s.

  • Article
  • Article

A bad atmosphere in the Balkans

| Natasha TripneyDragan Mujan

The citizens of Belgrade, one of the most polluted cities in Europe, are finally pushing back against the polluters, whose activities they’ve been encouraged to accept.

  • Article
  • Article

Crime drama and the realistic cadaver

| Hildegunn M S TraaSteven Pocock

Today we are accustomed to the increasingly realistic look of dead bodies in on-screen dramas. Special-effects expert Hildegunn M S Traa reveals how crime and morgue scenes reflect the social idea of death.

  • Article
  • Article

Autistic togetherness during lockdown

| Kate FoxColin Potsig

While lockdown has presented autistic people with greater challenges than life pre-COVID, many have found strength and comfort in the situation. Autistic writer and performer Kate Fox explains how.

  • Article
  • Article

Chillies and the trouble with Scoville

| Danny Birchall

Measuring the heat of these peppers can leave you a little lukewarm.

  • Article
  • Article

When wounds replace words

| Jules MontagueSteven Pocock

For the many thousands of refugees waiting in Greece, the process to establish the truth of their tragic personal histories is often extremely upsetting. But a group of medics and legal workers is working together to make the system more humane.

  • Article
  • Article

Medics and the bomb

| Taras Young

Would a nuclear attack on the UK overwhelm the NHS? At the height of the Cold War, despite government optimism, medics predicted doom.

  • Article
  • Article

Written on my body

| David JesudasonFranklyn Rodgers

Scars mean David Jesudason has never enjoyed seeing his reflection. Recounting the stories behind the marks on his face and body, he finds the only one that symbolises hope and happiness.

  • Comic
  • Comic

Clinical detachment

| Ian Williams

The reality of emotional blunting and slow burn trauma.

  • Article
  • Article

Shame, condemnation and conscience

| Lucia Osborne-CrowleyEduardo Rubio

Where does shame comes from and what fuels it? Lucia Osborne-Crowley explores audience, gender and the difference between shame and guilt, asking if either can ever be useful.

  • Article
  • Article

The tale of the toxic kidneys

| Thomas MorrisEmily Evans

In 1954 a serendipitous coming together of skills and circumstances allowed the first successful organ transplant to take place. Read how Richard Herrick’s life was prolonged by his identical twin’s generosity.

  • Article
  • Article

The case for safe skin bleaching

| Ngunan AdamuAmaal Said

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.

  • Article
  • Article

People against pollution

| Alice BellAlberto Casias

Alice Bell reflects on what happens when communities help solve environmental problems, and whether citizen science can help fight industrial pollution today.

  • Article
  • Article

Pain and the power of touch

| Fiona MurphyCamilla Greenwell

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.

  • Article
  • Article

We need less ‘sickle cell warriors’ and more allies

| Cheryl TelferMaĂŻa WalcottBlack Ballad

Rejecting the epithet “warrior”, Cheryl Telfer describes the pervasive effect sickle cell disease has on her life, and calls for more people to donate blood to help sicklers.

  • Article
  • Article

Mapping the body

These intricate anatomical drawings show how Ayurveda practitioners have explored the human body and how it works.

  • Article
  • Article

A medieval guide to practical magic

| Rebecca J S NiceThomas S G FarnettiMartin Hopton

With few sources of effective help available when treating an injured patient, the medieval physician could instead stage a healing ceremony using a practical how-to guide he carried with him.

  • Article
  • Article

Lovesickness and ‘The Love Thief’

| Julia Nurse

An 11th-century poem of love, lust and possibly gruesome death still resonates today.

  • Article
  • Article

The Key to Memory: Mark it out

Sarah Bentley explores what a papier-mâchÊ figure from Japan can tell us about how and why we remember.