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From the miniature adult in the womb imagined by 15th-century artists to the increasing detail of today’s ultrasound scans, Tania Staras traces our changing view of the human foetus.

Can hermits get lonely? Explore solitary lives through the ages, from early religious ascetics to children imprisoned in churches, and on to those compelled to withdraw from modern life in the 21st century.

The fighting methods of World War I brought with them a huge increase in disfiguring facial injury. See how surgeons and sculptors helped injured men face the world again.

Imagine a device that can treat everything from baldness to gout. Too good to be true? Yes, and it was banned – but not before hundreds were hoodwinked.

What use is ‘twitching’? Exploring materials created over 500 years shows that there’s more to birdwatching than meets the eye.

The NHS might only be 70 years old, but the idea of free healthcare goes back to Ancient Greece, when devout doctors provided their services without charge.

New Orleans, 1853. James McGuigan arrives in the port city and succumbs to yellow fever.

New York, 1907. Mary Mallon spreads infection, unaware that her name will one day become synonymous with typhoid.

In the 1950s, dramatic political battles over NHS charges brought down a government. But public confidence in the service still grew.

Gloucester, 1896. Ethel Cromwell is taken ill at the height of Britain’s last great smallpox epidemic.

Historian Emily Mayhew has met soldiers who have survived the seemingly unsurvivable. Here, she explores the part prosthetics play in the process of military rehabilitation.

How our understanding of electricity has grown, from novelty to the pulse of modern life – and the inner fire that powers the human machine.

It’s been over 400 years since a Swiss alchemist theorised that foetuses could develop outside the womb. Claire Horn examines incubator technology past and present, and explores the possibilities recent prototypes might bring.

We look back at the importance of the head, from how it’s influenced our language to the bold political statement of having it removed.

Join us for a day of activities exploring belief, birth and the body.

British Sign Language (BSL) has evolved over centuries, shaped by stories of exclusion, and opportunity. Deaf photographer Stephen Iliffe has photographed eight people from a multi-cultural deaf community, celebrating both the quiet nuance and the expressive power of BSL.

Join this workshop for reflections, conversations and creative activities around the theme of food and healing.

Wellcome Collection’s Shop is now open for festive gifts and late night shopping on Thursdays.

Lights Up sessions are an opportunity to explore our exhibition ‘Thirst: In Search of Freshwater’ with brighter lighting conditions across the gallery. There's also an audio described tour available during each session.

A deeply human and compassionate re-evaluation of mental illness from the GP and bestselling author of 'Adventures in Human Being' and 'Recovery'.