- In pictures
- In pictures
Tree of life
Ross MacFarlane traces the ideas around Charles Darwin’s famous ‘Tree of Life’, both back to the Bible, and forward to its appropriation by the proponents of eugenics.
- Article
- Article
Would you like to buy a dinosaur?
Two remarkable letters and a drawing of a plesiosaur by Mary Anning offer a tantalising portal into the exciting world of fossil hunting and discovery of the 1800s.
- In pictures
- In pictures
Measure for measure?
From censuses to smartwatches, Ross MacFarlane shows how we have tracked health across the centuries.
- In pictures
- In pictures
Water of life?
From ancient sources of spiritual sustenance to the modern spa, Ross MacFarlane traces a brief history of healing waters.
- In pictures
- In pictures
Bird-spotting from medieval to modern times
What use is ‘twitching’? Exploring materials created over 500 years shows that there’s more to birdwatching than meets the eye.
- In pictures
- In pictures
Backstroke to the future
Now one of the most popular forms of exercise, the health-giving properties of swimming have not always been recognised. Dive into a gallery that charts the course from water as site of danger to a space of health.