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  • Article

On nature cures and taking the waters

When chilly outdoor swims began to chip away at her depression, Jessica J Lee was drawn to a closer study of the complex natural world around her.

  • Article

Bubbles of history

Since the 1960s, scientists have been able to study the air from past centuries by analysing particles in Arctic ice samples. But as the polar ice melts, the future of this research is changing.

  • Article

The unimprovable white cane

Recent technological additions to the white cane aim to make the world easier for visually impaired people to navigate. Alex Lee explores whether new is really better.

  • Article

A history of mindfulness

Matt Drage questions how an ancient religious practice became a secular cure for stress.

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  • [Card certifying proficiency in life saving and water safety (Cincinnati, Ohio, 1939 - used in 1942)].
  • [Card certifying proficiency in life saving and water safety (Cincinnati, Ohio, 1939 - used in 1942)].
  • Actinosphaerium is a single celled organism found in pond water. It is a protist that uses its long axopodia to capture prey. Actinosphaeria are also known as sun animalcules and are approximately 0.2 - 1.0mm wide.
  • Calendula officinalis L. Asteraceae. Pot marigold, common marigold, ruds or ruddles. Calendula, because it was said to flower most commonly at the first of each month - the 'calends' (Coles, 1657). officinalis indicates that it was used in the 'offices' - the clinics - of the monks in medieval times. Annual herb. Distribution: Southern Europe. The Doctrine of Signatures, indicated that as the flowers resembled the pupil of the eye (along with Arnica, Inula and the ox-eye daisy), it was good for eye disorders (Porta, 1588). Coles (1658) writes '... the distilled water ... helpeth red and watery eyes, being washed therewith, which it does by Signature, as Crollius saith'. Culpeper writes: [recommending the leaves] '... loosen the belly, the juice held in the mouth helps the toothache and takes away any inflammation, or hot swelling being bathed with it mixed with a little vinegar.' The petals are used as a saffron substitute - ‘formerly much employed as a carminative
  • Two naked men caressing in an outdoor pool representing an advertisement for water based lubricants to promote safer gay sex and AIDS prevention; part of a project of the New Zealand AIDS Foundation. Colour lithograph designed by Michael Mitchell.
  • A doctor telling his apprentice how to use language correctly. Wood engraving after J. Leech, 1846.
  • A hypochondriac at home with his anxious nurse. Wood engraving.
  • A man in a pink t-shirt injects a needle into the arm of another man who squints in pain with five illustrated steps for the sterilisation and safe disposal of needles; advertisment by the ACON, The AIDS Council of New South Wales. Colour lithograph by Jamie Dunbar.
  • Ruscus aculeatus L. Ruscaceae Butchers Broom., Box holly, Knee Holly, Jew’s myrtle. Distribution: Mediterranean to Britain. Aculeatus means 'prickly' which describes the plant well. Dioscorides in 70 AD (Gunther, 1959) says of this plant ‘... ye leaves and berries drunk in wine have ye force to move urine, expel the menstrua, and to break ye stones in ye bladder ...’ and adds also ‘ ... it cures also ye Icterus and ye strangurie and ye headache.' Its use did not change for a millennium and a half
  • Two people reach out to touch the tree of life and hope surrounded by dragonflies, frogs, birds and a butterfly representing an Aboriginal depiction of the cycle of life and the role people must play to ensure an AIDS free future. Colour lithograph by Zane Saunders, March 1993.
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