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 Mezzotint drawing in black and white showing a man being tugged left and right by two women, one towards a church and another towards a brothel. Lettering beneath reads 'the contest between the spirit and the flesh'. The item is pictured on a grey concrete textured background
  • In pictures

Sex work through the ages

Discover how societies, from antiquity to the present day, have chosen to regard and treat sex workers. While some communities work towards acceptance, others retain harsh judgement.

Rubyetc webcomic promo detail
  • Comic

Modern hunter-gatherer

Finding food has never been so easy

Part of Rubyetc

Sepia toned photograph with a digital filter applied to give the impression the photograph was created using a glass-plate process from the mid 19th century. The effect of this filter includes scratches and fingerprints. The photograph shows a woodland scene made up of tall grasses, bracken and distant trees. In the centre of the image stands a tall woman dressed in a black floor length skirt and a white blouse embellished with frills and large cuffs. She is looking straight to camera, her right arm is raised to her side, palm facing upwards. Wrapped around her neck and running over her shoulder and down to her open hand is a long dark toned snake. The centre of the frame is in sharp focus, but the edges descend quickly into a blur.
  • Article

The extraordinary body of Evatima Tardo

Darling of 19th-century American freak shows, Evatima Tardo remained serene as she withstood crucifixion and the bites of poisonous snakes. But she took the secret behind her abilities to her grave.

Photograph of a technical illustration of a woman in a corset being measured by a device, indicating dimensions to be measured, against a grey concrete textured background.
  • In pictures

Revealing the iron corset

There are around 15 iron corsets in museum collections around the world, including two in Wellcome Collection. Historians still dispute their purpose, but these intriguing objects hold clues about who would have worn them and why.

Rubyetc webcomic promo detail
  • Comic

January diet

Is your January diet turning you into a dragon?

The heart of homesickness

Gail Tolley uncovers the complexities of homesickness and explores why this condition is affecting so many people today more seriously than we might expect.

Books

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

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Photograph of four portraits featuring LGBTQ+ comedians, framed within a white paper frames. To the right of the image, an anonymous figure is also framed within a white frame. Layered beneath them in tiers are the LGBTQ+ colours of red, orange, yellow, green blue and purple; which forms the floor of the set. The colours are laid out in such a way as they form a chevron.
  • Article

In celebration of LGBTQ+ comedy

At school, homophobic jokes made Ella Braidwood feel uncomfortable and ashamed. Fast-forward to today’s inclusive comedy scene, and her very different feelings of hope and happiness.

Webcomic showing half a face with a closed eye, coloured purple, with blue and orange droplets on. On the right of the frame, the silhouettes of two people are shown, one coloured yellow with purple and blue droplets on their body, and one black.
  • In pictures

Still ill: Corona diary

In vivid words and pictures, artist Monique Jackson depicts her experience of becoming ill with Covid-19 last year.

Web comic (detail)
  • Comic

Being human

Drop the list and just exist.

Part of Worry Lines

Digital artwork using a colourful, fantastical approach. The artwork shows the head of a woman in the centre against a cosmic, star scattered background. Above her head is a moon-like orb. Swirling over and around her head, and out to the edges of the image are floral motifs and squiggly lines of reds, yellow, oranges and blues. The whole scene has a dream-like feeling to it.
  • Article

Vivid nights, dream-filled days

Each night, intense and memorable dreams create another life for Katie da Cunha Lewin. Find out how her waking and dreaming selves have become enmeshed, allowing her powerful self-knowledge.

Photograph of a simple theatre stage set, made out of card. The background surrounding the stage is black. The stage floor is white and the framing of the stage is made out of 3 square edged arches, each one smaller than the other, receding backwards. The first arch is cream coloured and the other two are a red. On the stage is a small cut out illustration of a man with a moustache from the early 20th century. Behind him forming the backdrop is a black and white drawing of a group of suited men gathered around a table looking towards the viewer. Under these men are a list of their names.
  • Story

The father of handwashing

Doctors performing autopsies and then delivering babies – with not a hint of soap in between – was the grim recipe producing a lot of motherless offspring in the 1800s. But one man’s gargantuan efforts to upend accepted medical thinking turned the tide.

Webcomic by Worry Lines (detail)
  • Comic

You're doing well

Sometimes it's just enough to be a human being.

Part of Worry Lines

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