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.)

Photo of dark sky with clouds and light
  • Book extract

Winter blues and the story of SAD

In ‘Chasing the Sun‘ Linda Geddes reveals why for some people, winter is literally depressing, showing how we first came to recognise seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Part of Inside Our Books

  • Image gallery

Challenging stereotypes of people with learning disabilities

Explore the voices and photographs of people with and without learning disabilities who have worked with creative arts company Heart n Soul over the last 30 years.
Detail of metaphor by Rob Bidder
  • Comic

Metaphor

We think of our bodies using tank or factory metaphors, but we are all made of stars.

Part of Body Squabbles

  • Essay

The art of soundproof design

Too much noise is more than annoying – it has serious negative effects on health and cognitive ability. Find out how designers and architects are mitigating the downsides of sound.
Illustration by Ana Bustelo of woman lying down taking LSD
  • Essay

Acid and the sexual psychonauts

How LSD fuelled one woman’s journey of sexual self-discovery in the late 1950s.

Intoxicating Histories

Read our six-part story on intoxicants, the different forms they can take, and the blurry lines between safe and dangerous, legal and illegal.

Photograph of an alcoholic spirit bottle on a colourful background.
  • Serial
Part1

Booze and bad behaviour

Part of Intoxicating Histories

Photograph of a pretend sheet of LSD tabs with a butterfly motif, against a colourful abstract background.
  • Serial
Part2

Tripping for spiritualism and science

Part of Intoxicating Histories

Photograph of an e-cigarette, against a colourful abstract background surrounded by wisps of smoke.
  • Serial
Part3

Inhaling happiness and gasping for a high

Part of Intoxicating Histories

Photograph of syringe filled with liquid sticking out of a colourful background.
  • Serial
Part4

Deadly doses and the hardest of hard drugs

Part of Intoxicating Histories

Photograph of a smart phone held in a selfie-stick, in front of a colourful swirly background. The background pattern is repeated on the phone screen.
  • Serial
Part5

Self-obsessing in the age of selfies

Part of Intoxicating Histories

Photograph of a VR headset on a colourful patterned background.
  • Serial
Part6

Virtual reality and the fix of the future

Part of Intoxicating Histories

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  • Image gallery

Miracle cure-alls throughout the ages

From the elixir of life to radium, humans have always searched for a panacea: something to cure every ill. But instead it’s only highlighted our anxieties and preoccupations throughout history.

Part of From Our Collections

  • Comic

Tattoos

Tattoos to remember, tattoos to enhance, tattoos to disguise – which sort of tattoo is for you?

Part of Body Squabbles

Photograph of writer Gwen Smith sat behind a table which is covered in vegetables, holding carrots in one hand and a green health drink in the other. She is looking sceptically at the vegetables.
  • Essay

The sickness in the wellness industry

In recovery from anorexia, Gwen Smith began to realise how the wellness industry needs its followers to feel bad about themselves in order to make money out them.
Illustration of doctor showering patients with sleeping pills
  • Essay

Why I don’t like prescribing sleeping pills

Sleeping pills often seem a simple option for aiding sleep or when dealing with anxiety, but there are many risks, and our anonymous GP is not afraid to say no to patients.

Part of The Secret GP

Photograph of an architectural detail inside the Paimio Sanatorium, designed and built by the architect Alvar Aalto.
  • Image gallery

Exploring Alvar Aalto’s Paimio Sanatorium

Seemingly small features help to make Alvar Aalto’s Paimio Sanatorium in Finland one healing element for the tuberculosis patients he designed it for.
Cover image from Tiffany Watt Smith’s ‘Schadenfreude’
  • Book extract

How to manage your Schadenfreude

Do you sometimes enjoy witnessing others’ distress? Tiffany Watt Smith suggests five ways to manage - and even embrace - the perplexing emotion of Schadenfreude.

Part of Inside Our Books