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22 results
  • Article
  • Article

A little wildness

| Rowan Hisayo BuchananFaye Heller

To salve her longing for a dog, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan chose a puppy. She found that, despite centuries of domestication, her dog still retains aspects of her wild ancestry.

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  • Photo story

From chef’s whites to medical scrubs

| Carmel KingKate Wilkinson

Meet the machinists who have rapidly switched from making clothing for hospitality staff to uniforms for hospital workers.

  • Photo story
  • Photo story

The spectacle maker

| Clare DowdyCarmel King

Born into the eyewear business 80 years ago, Lawrence Jenkin still designs and makes glasses, while supporting and inspiring the generations of designers following him.

  • Photo story
  • Photo story

How wigs help children handle hair loss

| Carmel KingHelen Babbs

For young people who lose their hair during cancer treatment, a wig can make them feel normal again. Carmel King photographs some of the processes and people involved with a charity providing beautiful human-hair wigs for kids.

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Losing touch

| Agnese ReginaldoAisha Young

In these pandemic times, when touch has become taboo, Agnese Reginaldo explores the importance of physical contact to our wellbeing.

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The power of unicorns

| Muriel Bailly

Discover the unlikely connection between pharmaceuticals and unicorns.

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History of condoms from animal to rubber

| Taryn Cain

Come on a journey from the first recorded condoms in the 16th century to the modern female condoms in the 1990s – and everything in between.

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The secret lives of Britain’s first Black physicians

| Annabel SowemimoGergo Varga

Dr Annabel Sowemimo explores the web of connections between early Black British doctors, the role of empire in West Africa and the pernicious reach of scientific racism.

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Black pepper to fuel fiery fights and cure haemorrhoids

| Alice White

This common condiment was once very valuable and, until surprisingly recently, used as a versatile medicine.

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The doctor who challenged the unicorn myth

| Estelle ParanqueKathleen Arundell

Our era of fake news and medical misinformation is nothing new. Estelle Paranque relays the thrusts and parries of a 440-year-old row over a magical cure-all, the unicorn horn.

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How Californian dairy farmers stole a way of life

| Cecilia MorenoCat O’Neil

When European settlers drained a beautiful Californian lake to provide dairy grazing, the lives of nearby Native American peoples changed out of all recognition. But recent rainfall is strengthening hopes of a return to the old ways.

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Hamlet, the melancholic Prince of Denmark

| Nelly Ekström

Hamlet clearly demonstrates an excess of black bile and is arguably the most famous literary melancholic.

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The men who meddled with nature

| Allison C Meier

The ‘acclimatisation societies’ of the 19th century sought to ‘improve’ on the natural world by releasing non-native species into the wild. The effects were disastrous.

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Parasites and pests from the medieval to the modern

| Katherine Harvey

Humans have been reluctant hosts to a plethora of unpleasant parasites for centuries. And medieval evidence shows our modern distaste for these little irritations is just as ancient.

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How to play in secret

| Holly GramazioThomas S G Farnetti

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.

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The house of Joan

| Rachel GennSally Anne Wickenden

The longueurs of hospital stays and enforced inactivity were the spur to Joan’s precise tailoring skills and flamboyant creations, all to the benefit of her fashion-loving sisters.

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Shakespeare and the four humours

| Nelly Ekström

Blood. Phlegm. Black bile. Yellow bile. The theory of the four humours informed many of Shakespeare's best-known characters, including the phlegmatic Falstaff.

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On being a father with OCD

| Ben Falk

As a parent to young children, Ben Falk worries whether he could somehow pass his OCD on to them. Here’s what the experts say.

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Guide dogs or good dogs from the Middle Ages

| Jude SealSteven Pocock

Medieval illustrations often show blind people, sometimes with dogs. But working out whether these were actually guide dogs involves a mix of detailed detective work and expert speculation.

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Medieval doodles

| Jack Litchfield

Fish, lute players and defaced demons: marginal doodles in some of Europe’s first printed books provide a tantalising glimpse into the late-medieval mind.

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Political brilliance and the power of self-promotion

| Anna Faherty

How do you convince people you’re exceptional? Meet the ultimate self-styled genius.

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The tradesman who confronted the pestilence

| Anna Faherty

The City of London, 1665. As the Great Plague hits the capital, John New faces a deadly dilemma.