Stories

We tell stories about health and human experience. Our words and pictures make connections, provoke new thinking and share lived experiences. You can pitch a story to us.

  • Comic

Where do you find tranquillity?

How do you like to relax?

Part of How to be human

  • Article

Notes upon arrival

In an effort to feel at home back in the country of her birth, poet Bhanu Kapil recognises the small revelations of nature in a chilly UK spring as a way to reconnect.

Part of Ritual

  • Article

Appointments with plants

In our ‘always on’ culture, poet Elizabeth-Jane Burnett find a route away from screens – by following the ways of the trees and plants outside.

Part of Ritual

  • Article

Drops of water

In the compulsory isolation of lockdown, Daisy Lafarge’s repeated visits – via a new microscope – to the miniature worlds contained by drops of pond water provided her with the company and escapism she craved.

Part of Ritual

  • Article

How ritual creates meaning

In a world that encourages us to quash our sense of wonder, ritual can help push away apathy and nurture life-enhancing creativity and imagination.

Part of Ritual

Books

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

You may have missed

  • Article

A flat-packed forest

The regular ritual of creating seasonally changing mini-forests for her indoor cats brought Abi Palmer a focus for reflection while the cats explored.

Part of Ritual

  • Comic

The simplest things

Trying to relax isn't always as easy as it seems...

Part of How to be human

  • Article

Rediscovering Margaret Louden, a forgotten NHS hero

Bored during lockdown, David Jesudason started bin diving at night. Then a chance discovery set him on a new path: to tell the story of a forgotten female surgeon.

  • Article

Providing care across languages

When medics are taught in English but their patients speak other languages, effective communication becomes fraught. Niyoshi Shah explores the linguistic gaps between patient and doctor.

  • In pictures

A visual history of cancer

Cancer has a reputation as a modern disease, but these historical images show that it’s been part of our lives for centuries.

  • Serial
Part6

To stop or stay on lithium

In the final part of her investigation into lithium, Laura Grace Simpkins faces a dilemma – should she put her own mental health or other people and the planet first?

Part of Lithium Mania

More stories