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10 results
  • Article
  • Article

How tuberculosis became a test case for eugenic theory

| Hannah CornishGergo Varga

A 19th-century collaboration that failed to prove how facial features could indicate the diseases people were most likely to suffer from became a significant stepping stone in the new ‘science’ of eugenics.

  • Article
  • Article

When monarchs healed the sick

| Rita YatesSteven Pocock

Our current Queen fortunately doesn’t have to spend hours laying hands on the sick to cure them. But it was a different story for monarchs of the early modern era, whose touch was a sought-after treatment for scrofula.

  • Photo story
  • Photo story

Exploring Alvar Aalto’s Paimio Sanatorium

| Benjamin Gilbert

Seemingly small features help to make Alvar Aalto’s Paimio Sanatorium in Finland one healing element for the tuberculosis patients he designed it for.

  • Article
  • Article

Tragic artists and their all-consuming passions

| Anna Faherty

Does having a debilitating disease help or hinder creative genius?

  • In pictures
  • In pictures

The history of sanatoriums and surveillance

| Sadie Levy Gale

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

  • 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

The building as tool of healing

| Emily Sargent

When we’re ill, it’s not just medical care that helps to treat us. Architects have discovered that the right environment can play an important part too.

  • Article
  • Article

The hidden history of homesickness

| Gail TolleyMaria Rivans

Gail Tolley delves into the history of homesickness and discovers that its rich past holds a clue to how we view the experience today.

  • Interview
  • Interview

Inside the mind of Living with Buildings curator, Emily Sargent

| Gwendolyn Smith

Curator Emily Sargent reveals why council estates and a Finnish TB sanatorium were chosen for the ‘Living with Buildings’ exhibition.

  • Article
  • Article

Yoga gets physical

| Lalita Kaplish

Modern yoga owes a debt to the physical culture movement that created a world obsessed with health and fitness.