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.)

Heart illustration by Emily Evans
  • Serial
Part5

The problem of the punctured heart

During World War II a young American surgeon working in England perfected shrapnel-removal techniques that saved dozens of lives. Discover how one case sealed his reputation as the founder of cardiac surgery.

Part of Revolutions in Surgery

Photograph black ornate picture frame hung on a black wall. Inside the frame is a print of an oil painting by Egon Schiele titled, 'The Family'. It depicts Schiele himself at the far back, his sinewy nude body hunched behind his wife, Edith, who looks off to the side, while a child is curled between her feet.
  • Story

Spanish flu and the depiction of disease

The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 killed many millions more than World War I did. Find out why contemporary artistic depictions of its devastating impact are so rare.

Photograph of a teenage boy wearing a red t-shirt and black shorts, standing in a garden. Above him is a washing line with pegs and towels.
  • Photo story

Obesity and Britain’s boys

Six young men and six experiences of being overweight. Find out how these boys and their loved ones feel about this stigmatising issue.

Tremble comic by Rob Bidder (detail)
  • Comic

Tremble

Not all trembles are the same. What was the last thing that made you tremble?

Part of Body Squabbles

Brain illustration by Emily Evans
  • Serial
Part4

The mystery of the malignant brain

In 1884 a neurologist successfully used a patient’s symptoms, plus a new kind of map, to locate a brain tumour. Discover how his best-laid plans for treatment worked out.

Part of Revolutions in Surgery

Painful realities

What is the nature of pain? Discover the history of pain and medicine alongside the intimate history of one woman’s personal pain and quest for understanding.

Books

Get stuck into a book published by Wellcome Collection and explore the complexities of the human condition.

You may have missed

Photograph of small teddy bear sitting within the surroundings of a cemetery, with grave stones and ivy.
  • Essay

How we bury our children

Following her baby daughter’s funeral, Wendy Pratt found that visiting the grave gave her a way to carry out physical acts of caring for her child. Here she considers how parents’ nurturing instincts live on after a child’s death.

Coloured wood engraving showing three different scenes. The central scene shows a crowd of people gathered in a square, with hot-air balloons on the ground. The scene on the top right, has the following accompanying text: 'First Balloon Ascent in England. Sep 15, 1784'. A solitary air-balloon can be seen in the air, as people look on- one man is waving the Union Jack. The third scene at the bottom right, has the following accompanying caption: ‘Lhoste’s Farewell from the Colonel’. It shows an air balloon in flight, as a man is seen waving from it.
  • Image gallery

The death-defying science of the aeronauts

Air ballooning is not as serene as you might think. Read about the perilous exploits of two early aeronauts who risked life and limb to better understand the science of the weather.

Part of Inside Our Collections

Language comic by Rob Bidder (detail)
  • Comic

Language

Our bodies convey stories through an alphabet of shrugs and shoulder poems. If your shoulders could talk, what poems would they tell?

Part of Body Squabbles

Stomach illustration by Emily Evans
  • Serial
Part3

The case of the cancerous stomach

Steak and schnitzel were on the menu again after Theodor Billroth successfully excised a woman’s stomach cancer in 1881. Remarkably, today’s surgeons still perform the same procedure, with slight modifications.

Part of Revolutions in Surgery

  • Interview

Meet the climate emergency

Find out what led Yinka Shonibare to create the compelling artwork ‘Refugee Astronaut’.

Part of Behind the Scenes

Image of four men and a woman experiencing making strange faces.
  • Image gallery

Humans, animals and the sensory world

Artists and medics through the ages have made links between our discerning human senses and similar traits in animals. Discover how close we are to the earth’s other inhabitants.

Part of Inside Our Collections