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  • Article

Making sense of senses lost

In rapid succession, Steve Barker suddenly lost sight and hearing on his left side. The effect on how he perceives the world has been profound.

  • Article

Synaesthesia, or when senses overlap

What’s it like to see heartbeats, taste Tube stations or hear paintings?

  • Article

Dress and the magic of touch

Fashion, of course, is largely about appearance, but the feeling of clothes on your skin is a complex sensory experience. Shahidha Bari contemplates the human connections in the business of creating and wearing clothes.

  • Article

Virtual reality and the fix of the future

Virtual reality, with its complex sensory tricks, takes us beyond the real world. Find out how these potentially addictive experiences can harm us – or might even have therapeutic uses.

All stories (25)

Images

  • The five senses and death. Watercolour by Elizabeth Painter, 1957.
  • A bird's beak cuts a woman's hand; representing the sense of touch and the fact that it persists longer (in pain) than the other senses. Engraving, 16--.
  • Head of a woman expressing, according to Lavater, good sense and fidelity. Drawing, c. 1794.
  • Organs of sensation: eight figures of the ear and eye. Line engraving by Kirkwood & Son, 1813.
  • A dog looks on as a man and a woman smell a flower; representing the sense of smell. Engraving.
  • Two men crossing a stream by night, representing Common sense and Genius. Etching by C. Heath after T. Stothard.
  • People eating and drinking before a tapestry; representing the sense of taste. Engraving by A. Bosse after himself, c. 1650.
  • An old woman and a child warming their hands from a fire; representing the sense of touch. Line engraving by P. Quast.
  • The fallibility of the senses: above, justice, fame and deceit; below, doctors conducting an autopsy on a cadaver, surrounded by onlookers. Engraving, 1692.
  • A bath-house containing six men and an onlooker, perhaps an allegory of the four humours and five senses. Photolithograph after A. Dürer, c. 1496.
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