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

Repatriation of three human skulls believed to be of Australian Aboriginal origin.

Even in the 21st century, women with severe monthly pain find their suffering minimised or dismissed by the medical profession. Such pain is seen as simply a natural part of being female.

A bark specimen at Kew recalls the story of a South American man who harvested the most potent source of the only effective malaria treatment available in the late 1800s. Killed for his work and forgotten by history, Manuel Mamani was a victim of the colonial juggernaut.

The invention of the modern hypodermic syringe meant we could get high – or accidentally die – faster than before. Find out how this medical breakthrough was adapted for deadly uses.

A Tasmanian Aboriginal hair sample has been repatriated.

Guy Stagg takes us on a brief history of rehab centres and their approaches to addiction and recovery.

Historical texts rarely supply enough detail for a definitive diagnosis, so medical historians need to proceed with caution.

‘Forensics: The anatomy of crime’ is free and runs from 26 February to 21 June 2015 at Wellcome Collection.

Over 800,000 pages of archival material from psychiatric hospitals in the UK will be digitised and made freely available online.

Dr Kate Lister exposes the brutal 19th-century ‘cures’ for women who indulged in masturbation.

In 1817 an emergency operation on a London porter was hailed a ‘success’ despite the patient’s swift demise. Find out how this case became a landmark in vascular surgery.

In July 2025 Wellcome Collection presents ‘Finger Talk’, a powerful new British Sign Language (BSL) audiovisual installation by artist and curator Cathy Mager, in collaboration with deaf artists and contributors.

Two futuristic, light-filled buildings aimed to bring forward-looking healthcare to city dwellers. But the principles behind each were very different.

Being a lesbian has never been a crime in the UK, but 50 years ago, some psychologists experimented with treatments to try to ‘cure’ women of their orientation. Find out what this involved.

Wellcome Collection was opened today by Nobel Prize winner Professor James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA ...

The story of one protective amulet from Palestine reveals a complex tale. Encompassing the personal history of an influential doctor and collector, it provides a window onto dispossession and exile, and the painful repercussions that are still felt today.

Despite underfunding, strikes and scandals, the first two decades of the 2000s has seen the British people’s love of and loyalty to the NHS soar.

Starkly unequal access to healthcare gave rise to Nye Bevan’s creation of a truly national health service.