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.)

Infrared photograph of the entrance to Green-Wood Cemetery. In the bottom left portion of the image two people are walking towards the Neo-Gothic entrance to Green Wood Cemetary. The road has a series of parked cars of which one has a door open. To the right of the frame there is a large tree towering over several grave stones. The pink hues replacing the greens of the grass and trees are a result of the infrared technique.

Article

Graveyards as green getaways

Stressed city dwellers have been visiting cemeteries in greater numbers since the start of the pandemic. Discover how, despite the constant reminders of death, graveyards bring visitors a sense of renewal.

Photograph of a whitewashed brick wall where the paint is flaking in places. Hung on the wall are two artworks. The artwork on the left is a large square oil painting on canvas, depicting an abstract landscape made up of textured brush strokes in blue, yellow and purple hues. The artwork on the right is framed in a simple white frame and depicts a digital artwork of a tree with swirling branches, green leaves dotted between the branches seemingly in mid air. The sky is a light green hue and a golden yellow sun radiates in the top right corner. At the base of the artwork is a line of distant green hills.

Article

Talent, tech and visual art

Jamie Hale finds a combination of talent and technology are crucial when it comes to creating great visual art, but how do you keep working when your circumstances are in constant flux?

Part of Art, activism and access

Comic

Unskilled

Do you have a mind job or a body job?

Part of Body Squabbles

A photographic diptych. The image on the left shows an adult wearing a furry yellow Honey Monster costume, including a red tracksuit top and blue tracksuit bottoms standing in a residential road with red brick houses beyond. The Honey Monster is holding a large black and white dog facing away from camera. The image on the right shows a section of the ground floor of a red brick house with a white PVC door and window with net curtains. On the brick wall surrounding the window there is a large chalk drawing of a stick person with Covid-19 written above it. Beneath the window is written ‘stay home’.

Photo story

Portraits, from a distance

Join photographer Michelle Sank on her daily walk around Exeter. Strength, frustration, resilience and eccentricity all show in these candid images portraying life under the constraints of coronavirus lockdown.

A photograph showing part of a medieval book on the left had-side of the image featuring Latin text and a figure of a man wearing a cape, tunic and a feathered hat. He is holding a dog on a lead, and the illustration is coloured green, brown and yellow. On the right-hand side of the image is a medallion with The Guide Dogs For The Blind Association engraved around the outside, and an alsation dog’s head engraved in the middle. The medallion is sitting in a royal blue box lined with blue velvet. The inside of the lid is lined with a cream coloured material on which the black outline of a guide dog and guide dog handler is stitched. The items appear on a plain brown background.

Article

Guide dogs or good dogs from the Middle Ages

Medieval illustrations often show blind people, sometimes with dogs. But working out whether these were actually guide dogs involves a mix of detailed detective work and expert speculation.

We need to talk about shame

Shame is one of our most overwhelming emotions. It’s also something we rarely discuss. In this series, Lucia Osborne-Crowley explores where shame comes from, what it’s for and how it works.