- Comic
- Comic
Clean
Let's clean up our act and pay people a fair wage
- In pictures
- In pictures
You’ve been warned
Iconic graphic design devised to admonish, amuse, inform and empower.
- In pictures
- In pictures
From rockets to raves
Find out how hydrogen peroxide has been used to do everything from investigate murders and propel rockets to treat teeth and bleach hair.
- Article
- Article
Thomas Sankara and the stomachs that made themselves heard
Thomas Sankara’s vision to transform farming and health in Burkina Faso turned to dust with his assassination. Perry Blankson highlights the considerable achievements of Sankara’s brief span in power.
- Short film
- Short film
Audrey’s conservator
In this short film, conservator Stefania Signorello explains how she approached the unique challenge of preserving Audrey’s scrapbooks as she created them.
- In pictures
- In pictures
The history of sanatoriums and surveillance
The sanatorium treatment for tuberculosis was a curious combination of sunshine, fresh air, exercise and constant surveillance.
- Article
- Article
A message from my skin
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.
- Article
- Article
Two health centres, two ideologies
Two futuristic, light-filled buildings aimed to bring forward-looking healthcare to city dwellers. But the principles behind each were very different.
- Book extract
- Book extract
A doctor, his community and coronavirus
Reflecting on his experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic, GP Gavin Francis vividly recalls a home visit to a man stricken with breathing difficulties.
- Article
- Article
Surviving sex work on the streets
In care at four, on the streets at nine, Charmaine has had a traumatic journey to reach life as it is now: no drugs, no sex work, looking after her mum, and enjoying her grandchildren. Here she writes honestly about her past.
- Article
- Article
The intimate and invasive art of ethical taxidermy
Does displaying dead animals bring us closer to nature, or drive us further apart?
- Article
- Article
The sickness in the wellness industry
In recovery from anorexia, Gwen Smith began to realise how the wellness industry needs its followers to feel bad about themselves in order to make money out them.
- Article
- 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.
- Article
- Article
“Everybody desires a degree of independence”
I’m 26, and building a network of friends and my career. Unlike most people my age, I’m entirely dependent on carers to achieve this.
- Comic
- Comic
Maintenance
Scrub, moisturise, cut and clean. What's your essential maintenance routine?
- Article
- Article
Diagnosing OCD in the past
Mining the writings of and about famous historical figures, retrospective psychologists try to diagnose their mental health problems. But, inevitably, partial evidence is open to misinterpretation.
- Comic
- Comic
Healing
Airing our wounds and cleaning our psyches are just some of the ways we heal ourselves, says illustrator Rob Bidder.
- Article
- Article
Sharing Nature: Over the rainbow
Here’s your choice of the most meaningful nature photo on the theme of health.
- Article
- Article
Where hoarding and dementia meet
As Grandma’s dementia advanced, the things she’d amassed became more important: they consoled her. Clearing safe walkways through the piles became the first – though unwelcome – compromise.
- Photo story
- Photo story
From chef’s whites to medical scrubs
Meet the machinists who have rapidly switched from making clothing for hospitality staff to uniforms for hospital workers.
- Article
- Article
Shame’s long shadow
What is shame and why is it so powerful? A violent sexual assault left Lucia Osborne-Crowley suffocated with shame, but she’s now determined to understand how this overwhelming emotion works.
- Article
- Article
Titans in the landscape
- Long read
- Long read
Love, grief and assisted dying
In this deeply affecting story, Michelle Elliot explores the events and emotions around the time of her mother’s medically assisted death in Canada, where the practice is legal.
- Article
- Article
The life and death of Tamagotchi and the virtual pet
Discover how the 1990s craze for Tamagotchis became a flood of robotic and virtual pets, sending their owners on an emotional rollercoaster ride.
- Article
- Article
Seeking the hoarder in literature
As she strives to deepen her understanding of hoarding, Georgie Evans turns to books. But depictions of hoards and hoarders are few and often sparse, except in one surprising place.