Stories

Our words and pictures explore the connections between science, medicine, life and art. Dive into a story no matter where in the world you are. (Want to write for us? Here's how.)

A figure is depicted tangled in a mass of knots with a speech bubble that reads: 'Every time I untie a couple of knots, I find bigger, tighter ones underneath'.
  • Comic

Knots

Imagine a life free of knots.

Part of Body Squabbles

Illustration using collage techniques. Image shows a scene made up of mainly red and blue hues. To the right of centre is woman's head in profile, looking to the right. On her head are multiple electrode points with long tentacle like cords reach out and winding down to a small machine with dials on the front. To the far left of the image stands a young woman in a nursing uniform holding the read out from an EEG machine. In the background are floral and palm leave motifs.
  • Serial
Part3

Electrical epilepsy and the EEG Test

The EEG (electroencephalograph) literally electrified the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. But for Aparna Nair the dreaded EEG tests of her adolescence were a painful ordeal.

Part of Epilepsy and me

Photograph of a seated woman, who is breasting her son, cradled in her arms. Behind her is a framed painting of a reclining mother and child, also depicted breastfeeding. To the right of the mother is a large window with natural light flooding in. To the left is a corridor in shadows with a leafy plant in a tall white pot in the distance.
  • Article

Confusion, guilt, and the battle to breastfeed

Most new mums are told that breast is best. But breastfeeding doesn’t always come as easily or naturally as you might imagine.

Coloured etching of woman on a cross
  • In pictures

The fast and the spurious

Extreme fasting has captured the public imagination for centuries. What pushes people to claim to go without food for improbable lengths of time?

Part of Inside Our Collections

Frame of Loving comic by Rob Bidder. Two figures embrace with love hearts as eyes.
  • Comic

Loving

Learning how to be loved can be complicated.

Part of Body Squabbles

How to play

Game designer Holly Gramazio takes a journey though the history and culture of games, and invites you to turn your mind to play wherever you are.

Books

Get stuck into one of our books, and explore the complexities of the human condition.

You may have missed

Illustration using collage techniques. Image shows a scene made up of mainly yellow and green hues. To the bottom centre is am examination table behind which stand 7 male doctors in white coats. Above them hovers a horizontal female figure, her arms crossed over her upper body. Hanging from beneath her are 5 paper labels with the text, 'Specimen' and 'Disease...' written on 2 of them. To the left of the image is an engraving of a young man looking at the floating figure through a telescope. To the right are illustrations of a plant and part of the palm leaves from a tree as well as an engraving of an academic male figure who looks like he's talking about the floating figure. Books and stars float around the floating figure.
  • Serial
Part2

The epilepsy diagnosis

Epilepsy exists between the mind and body, something that Aparna Nair experienced for herself when she was diagnosed as a teenager.

Part of Epilepsy and me

Illustration in the style of Manga graphic novels, showing a decapitated woman's head on the floor. Her body is lying behind her on a bed. Behind the bed stands a man with a horrified expression on his face. A long green ribbon trails from his hand, over the bed to the neck of the woman's head.
  • Article

On body horror and growing up strange

A young child’s unusual feelings, reactions and assertions are routinely dismissed by adults. Find out how manga horror stories became a source of strength, and helped them trust their adult body.

Watercolour showing a man holding a tub of pills labelled "A perfect cure for love". On the floor is the lid for the tub labelled "Hymen's sugar coated pills" and underneath is a poem in pencil.
  • In pictures

A short history of lovesickness

Are you ill or are you simply in love? It can be hard to tell. No wonder lovesickness was for centuries regarded as a bona fide disease.

Part of Inside Our Collections

Slice from Nature Rob Bidder showing a green figure blending into the background as vines sprout from them.
  • Comic

Nature

What gets you out into nature? Nature’s got it all, whether you’re looking for an adrenaline rush or simply to relax on a patch of grass and watch the clouds go by.

Part of Body Squabbles

Illustration using collage techniques. Image shows a scene made up of mainly green and yellow hues. To the left is the back of an old fashioned TV set out of which is emerging streaks of electron, or neural pathway patterns. Behind the TV set are two figures. A black dog is leaping towards the TV set. In the centre of the image is a human head with the repeating dots from the face of a dice covering their eyes and surrounding area. To the right are illustrations of a plant and part of the palm leaves from a tree.
  • Serial
Part1

The first seizure

Historian Aparna Nair had her first seizure when she was 11. Here she recalls that first time, and how other people’s reactions are sometimes the most disturbing part about having a seizure.

Part of Epilepsy and me

Photograph of a small island. The lower half of the image is water, the upper half and overcast sky. Across the centre of the image is the island, covered in green trees and several 2 and 3 storey buildings and a tall chimney in the centre.
  • Article

The island of unclaimed bodies

In New York, those who live and die on the extreme edges of society are buried on an isolated island, often forgotten and unmourned. But recent legal changes aim to reduce stigma and restore their dignity.