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69 results
  • Article
  • Article

Sex in graphic novels

| Stephen Lowther

Sex and sexuality have long been explored in the history of the graphic novel.

  • Article
  • Article

Living in limbo when a loved one is missing

| Bev ThomasCamilla Greenwell

When someone goes missing, loved ones are thrown into a state akin to constant grieving; waiting for news, living in hope. Novelist Bev Thomas describes how they try to cope and carry on.

  • In pictures
  • In pictures

How Mills & Boon made medicine romantic

| Agnes Arnold-Forster

‘Doctor-nurse’ romances are a hugely popular trope. Agnes Arnold-Forster explores their history and surprisingly nuanced depictions of womanhood, hospitals and the welfare state.

  • Article
  • Article

On contagion

| Daisy LafargeNaki Narh

Reading descriptions of the way humans become infested by parasitic flatworms, Daisy Lafarge experienced painful physical symptoms. Perhaps the very creature she was studying had invaded her body.

  • Podcast
  • Podcast

The masking tapes

| Mark ThomasHelen AtkinsonNicolas KentSusan McNicholasFranklyn Rodgers

In episode two of his coronavirus podcast, comedian Mark Thomas talks to health workers about PPE, vulnerability and the urge to protect.

  • In pictures
  • In pictures

The lost art of convalescence

| Lizzie Enfield

The efficacy of antibiotics and the demands of work mean we rarely convalesce after an illness. But in the past it was an important part of the return to health.

  • Book extract
  • Book extract

Chasing down a mystery illness

| Val McDermidKathryn Briggs

In an extract from their graphic novel about a deadly, drug-resistant illness, Val McDermid and Kathryn Briggs explore why knowledge isn’t always the same as power.

  • Article
  • Article

Spanish flu and the depiction of disease

| Allison C Meier

The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 killed many millions more than World War I did. Find out why contemporary artistic depictions of its devastating impact are so rare.

  • Book extract
  • Book extract

Solving the mystery of how to be happy

| Sophie HannahSteven Pocock

Crime writer Sophie Hannah thinks she might be too happy. Worried she’s using her happiness as an excuse to avoid a big work problem, she turns to a life coach for help.

  • Article
  • Article

Domestic titans

| Elvia WilkMichael Salu

Feeling trapped by the idea that an impenetrable carapace of space trash could surround the planet, Elvia Wilk turned to thoughts of the new worlds still to be revealed here on Earth.

  • Article
  • Article

The Martians are coming

| Charlotte SleighGergo Varga

For over a hundred years, antagonistic alien invaders have been a popular focus for the imagined end of the world. But the destructive consequences of human behaviour is far more frightening.

  • Article
  • Article

Between sickness and health

| Will ReesNaki Narh

In early 2020, the subject Will Rees was studying – imaginary illnesses – took on a new relevance as everyone anxiously scanned themselves for Covid symptoms each day. But this kind of self-scrutiny is nothing new, as he reveals.

  • Article
  • Article

The unearthly children of science fiction’s Cold War

| Ken Hollings

In the 1950s a new figure emerged in British novels, film and television: a disturbing young alien that revealed postwar society’s fear of the unruly power of teenagers.

  • Article
  • Article

Western magic’s fascination with the foreigner

| Shelley Angelie SaggarThomas S G Farnetti

Could modern magic shows be perpetuating damaging cultural stereotypes? Shelley Saggar shows how ‘exotic’ costumes and imagery are far from harmless fun.

  • Article
  • Article

How electromagnetic therapy inspired me

| Sarah James

Poet Sarah James explores how repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treated her depression and influenced her art.

  • Article
  • Article

Getting around the rules of sex education

| Hannah J Elizabeth

What should we and shouldn’t we teach our teens about sex, inside and outside of the classroom?

  • Article
  • Article

How slums make people sick

| Emily Sargent

A newly gentrified corner of Bermondsey leaves little clue to its less salubrious history. But a few intrepid writers recorded the details of existence in one of London’s most squalid slums.

  • Article
  • Article

We are from here, but not from here

| JJ Bola

Novelist JJ Bola on being a refugee with a British passport and what that placenessless means for a search for identity.

  • Article
  • Article

Illness and the influence of the stars

| Taras YoungSteven Pocock

Could alien germs from space have caused major pandemics across the world? Taras Young investigates the ideas of a few unconventional scientists who believe this to be the case.

  • Article
  • Article

Exceptional talent and the trouble with IQ tests

| Anna Faherty

Is a high IQ really a mark of genius, or does something else explain the exceptional?

  • Article
  • Article

The yogi as hermit, warrior, criminal and showman

| Lalita Kaplish

How the modern world changed the life and reputation of the yogi.

  • Long read
  • Long read

The ambivalence of air

| Daisy LafargeCarol Nazatto

Daisy Lafarge investigates the effects of air quality and pressure on body and mind, exploring air as cure, but one with contradictions.

  • Article
  • Article

Why the 1918 Spanish flu defied both memory and imagination

| Mark Honigsbaum

The Black Death, AIDS and Ebola outbreaks are part of our collective cultural memory, but the Spanish flu outbreak has not been.

  • Article
  • Article

Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀’s prescription for writing

| Jennifer Trent Staves

The Wellcome Book Prize shortlisted author of ‘Stay With Me’ answers five questions on health, inspiration and storytelling.

  • Article
  • Article

Lindsey Fitzharris’s prescription for writing

| Jennifer Trent Staves

The Wellcome Book Prize shortlisted author of ‘The Butchering Art’ answers five questions on health, inspiration and storytelling.