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.)

Photograph of a green membrane with three faces and five hands partially appearing in relief through it.
  • 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.

Photographic full length portrait of two women in a meeting room with blue patterned carpet and a red and white spot patterned wall. One woman is seated, sideways to camera looking over her shoulder at the lens. The other woman in sitting on a circular table looking to camera, one leg crossed over the other. Her glasses are folded on the table top beside her.
  • Article

The shocking ‘treatment’ to make lesbians straight

Being a lesbian has never been a crime in the UK, but 50 years ago, some psychologists experimented with treatments to try to ‘cure’ women of their orientation. Find out what this involved.

Watercolour painting showing an unconscious naked man lying on a table being attacked by little demons armed with surgical instruments
  • In pictures

How chloroform shaped the murder mystery

Find out how a sweet-smelling liquid anaesthetic captured the public’s imagination and changed pop culture for ever.

Part of Inside Our Collections

Slice of comic by Rob Bidder, depicting two figures at a birthday party, with balloons and bunting in the background.
  • Comic

Age

Aging and decay are natural and fine.

Part of Body Squabbles

Photograph of a woman standing an exhibition gallery smiling to camera. To the left of her is an exhibition text panel with the title 'Toys Like Us' written above it. In the distance behind her to the right are exhibition exhibits and a tv screen.
  • Article

An insider’s view of Play Well

Curator Shamita Sharmacharja offers behind-the-scenes insights into an exhibition about the serious business of play.

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.

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Photograph of model railway scenery depicting a walled cemetery containing seven graves. Models of a man holding flowers and a clergyman strand over the graves. Three of the headstones are made of actual size USB memory sticks standing on their ends. On the sticks is the text, USB 3.0, 32GB.
  • Article

Death and our digital ghosts

When we die, our data lives on. And as companies are increasingly spotting money-making opportunities from digital legacies, now could be the time to think about – and control – yours.

  • In pictures

The post-war adverts that tried to cure lonely women

Isolated housewives, lonely female office workers: while the 1950s saw the birth of a general concern about them, manufacturers also spotted an opportunity. Find out how advertising promised that products could salve solitude.

Part of Inside Our Collections

A raised fist in the air against a pink sky with clouds.
  • Comic

Fist

The power of an ordinary fist.

Part of Body Squabbles

Photograph of a three-fold table beauty mirror with built-in light on a glass patterned tabletop, against a dark red background. On the table in front of the mirror is an open jar of face cream. In the reflections of the mirror an old advertisement for Dr. Mackenzie's Arsenical Soap, be seen.
  • Article

Our endless quest for eternal youth

From poisonous 16th-century cosmetics to the latest “vampire facelift”, discover the fashions in unsavoury methods for improving our appearance.

Photograph of the carved wooden head of a woman against a black background. On the woman's head is an elaborate headdress. The head is cropped by the bottom of the frame just below her eyes.
  • Article

Mask, ritual and fertility

Today many of us learn about fertility, conception and pregnancy online. But that wasn’t always the way. Discover how masks and rituals played an important educational role.

Part of Inside Our Collections

Photograph of a coloured etching from 1824 titled, Veduta del lazzeretto di S. Rocco. Pom Lapi scul. The etching shows a panoramic view of a harbour scene with small boats in the foreground.
  • In pictures

Why we still need quarantine

For years, quarantine has been an important measure to curb the spread of infection and avert further deaths. Discover the way it has been used in the past and why it is still necessary today.

Part of Inside Our Collections