Stories search

Clean

Let's clean up our act and pay people a fair wage

You’ve been warned

Iconic graphic design devised to admonish, amuse, inform and empower.

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.

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.

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.

The history of sanatoriums and surveillance

The sanatorium treatment for tuberculosis was a curious combination of sunshine, fresh air, exercise and constant surveillance.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The intimate and invasive art of ethical taxidermy

Does displaying dead animals bring us closer to nature, or drive us further apart?

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.

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.

“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.

Maintenance

Scrub, moisturise, cut and clean. What's your essential maintenance routine?

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.

Healing

Airing our wounds and cleaning our psyches are just some of the ways we heal ourselves, says illustrator Rob Bidder.

Sharing Nature: Over the rainbow

Here’s your choice of the most meaningful nature photo on the theme of health.

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.

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.

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.

Titans in the landscape

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.

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.

Medics and the bomb

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