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11 results
  • Article
  • Article

The prostitute whose pox inspired feminists

| Anna Faherty

Fitzrovia, 1875. A woman recorded only as A.G. enters hospital and is diagnosed with syphilis.

  • 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.

  • Book extract
  • Book extract

The give and take of caring

| Kate MosseSteven Pocock

Kate Mosse argues that how we define ‘care’ matters, and explores the reciprocity of caring and being cared for.

  • Article
  • Article

Political brilliance and the power of self-promotion

| Anna Faherty

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

  • Article
  • Article

The enduring myth of the mad genius

| Anna Faherty

There’s a fine line to tread between creativity and psychosis.

  • Article
  • Article

Rejecting shame and a decade of change

| Jess Thom

Jess Thom spent years trying to ignore and suppress the tics of Tourette’s syndrome. Read what happened when she decided to celebrate them instead.

  • Article
  • Article

Happiness in time

| Kate WilkinsonLaurindo Feliciano

Trying to define happiness is like trying to grasp water: it evades us, constantly changing and becoming evident only in retrospect.

  • Article
  • Article

Can isolation lead to manipulation?

| Charlie WilliamsSarah MarksDaniel Pick

Military-funded researchers wanted to know if isolation techniques could facilitate brainwashing. One neuroscientist suggested that it might improve our own control over our minds.

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  • Article

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.

  • Article
  • Article

How depression ruined my relationship with sleep

| Lauren GeeNgadi Smart

One reaction to depression is a craving for sleep, creating a dependence that can provoke guilt and anxiety. Emerging from “five blurry years”, one writer tracks her steps to better health.

  • Article
  • Article

The life and death of Tamagotchi and the virtual pet

| Jenna Jovi

Discover how the 1990s craze for Tamagotchis became a flood of robotic and virtual pets, sending their owners on an emotional rollercoaster ride.