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Stories

  • Article

A brief history of ventilation

As ventilators continue to play an important part in helping very ill coronavirus patients, medical historian Dr Lindsey Fitzharris traces their development from the first attempts at mouth-to-mouth resuscitation through centuries of medical crises.

  • Article

The current that kills

In the 19th century, electricity held life in the balance, with the power to execute – or reanimate.

  • Article

Disability in the post-pandemic world

Disabled people have suffered more than most during Covid-19, but there is still a chance to build a kinder society. Dolly Sen explores whether we will come together, or allow more brutal disparities to develop in the worsening recession.

  • Article

Why zombies can’t help coming back

Although it might appear that zombies are a 20th-century phenomenon, created for the horror-movie industry, they’ve actually been around since medieval times. Find out what zombies like to do, and how to get rid of them.

All stories (9)

Images

  • Resuscitation apparatus: mahogany chest
  • Royal Humane Society Resuscitation apparatus.
  • Resuscitation techniques for somebody who was drowning.
  • A body covered with a blanket lying on a heated bath for the purpose of resuscitation. Etching, 1790.
  • Saint Amadio degli Amidei and the miracle of the resuscitation of the drowned boy. Engraving after B. Poccetti.
  • 'Dr. Howard's method of treating the apparently drowned'; demonstration of the method of resuscitation used by Dr. Howard of New York.
  • A man and a boy with bare torso in a rowing boat grounded on a beach: the man is demonstrating artificial resuscitation on the boy. Photograph.
  • A man recuperating in bed at a receiving-house of the Royal Humane Society, after resuscitation by W. Hawes and J.C. Lettsom from near drowning. Watercolour by R. Smirke.
  • A man recuperating in bed at a receiving-house of the Royal Humane Society, after resuscitation by W. Hawes and J.C. Lettsom from near drowning. Engraving by R. Pollard, 1787, after R. Smirke.
  • A man recuperating in bed at a receiving-house of the Royal Humane Society, after resuscitation by W. Hawes and J.C. Lettsom from near drowning. Engraving by R. Pollard, 1787, after R. Smirke.
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