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.)

Bald comic by Rob Bidder (detail).
  • Comic

Bald

Don't let your selfish hair mask your cranial beauty

Part of Body Squabbles

Illustration using collage techniques. Image shows a scene made up of mainly red and blue hues. In the centre of the image stands a woman on an ornate pedestal, naked from the waist down. Her left hand rest on the top of a superimposed illustration of a baby in the womb. Either side of her feet is a green domed light to the right and a red one to the left. Seated either side of her are two Victorian clan men reclining in comfortable chairs staring at her, one holding a cigar. In the background can be seen the word 'Eugenics' and floral and palm leaf motifs.
  • Serial

The ‘undesirable epileptic’

Abused in her marriage for being 'a sick woman', Aparna Nair looked to history to make sense of the response to her epilepsy. She discovered how centuries of fear and discrimination were often endorsed by science and legislation.

Part of Epilepsy and me

Photograph of a young woman sitting on her bed, wrapped in her duvet. The duvet cover is made of a patchwork quilt of blue, red and gold screen prints depicting woodblock engravings from a manuscript. Behind her is a framed photograph on the wall, shelves and part of her wardrobe.
  • Photo story

Beautiful bedding and how to die well

When you are unwell, your bed can be both a refuge and a prison. Discover how artist Poppy Nash created a bed-centred artwork inspired by her own chronic illness and depictions of ill health from history.

Photograph of 2 Vogue clip top jars containing breast tissue preserved in a liquid. The breast tissue in the jar on the left shows a tattoo around the nipple in a star shape. The breast tissue in the jar on the right show hair around the nipple.
  • Photo story

Trans masculinity on the record

Curator of the Museum of Transology in Brighton E-J Scott tells the story behind a few of the 250 objects from the collection, and the powerful effect they had on him as he put trans lives on the record.

A figure is depicted tangled in a mass of knots with a speech bubble that reads: 'Every time I untie a couple of knots, I find bigger, tighter ones underneath'.
  • Comic

Knots

Imagine a life free of knots.

Part of Body Squabbles

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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Illustration using collage techniques. Image shows a scene made up of mainly red and blue hues. To the right of centre is woman's head in profile, looking to the right. On her head are multiple electrode points with long tentacle like cords reach out and winding down to a small machine with dials on the front. To the far left of the image stands a young woman in a nursing uniform holding the read out from an EEG machine. In the background are floral and palm leave motifs.
  • Serial
Part3

Electrical epilepsy and the EEG Test

The EEG (electroencephalograph) literally electrified the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. But for Aparna Nair the dreaded EEG tests of her adolescence were a painful ordeal.

Part of Epilepsy and me

Photograph of a seated woman, who is breasting her son, cradled in her arms. Behind her is a framed painting of a reclining mother and child, also depicted breastfeeding. To the right of the mother is a large window with natural light flooding in. To the left is a corridor in shadows with a leafy plant in a tall white pot in the distance.
  • Article

Confusion, guilt, and the battle to breastfeed

Most new mums are told that breast is best. But breastfeeding doesn’t always come as easily or naturally as you might imagine.

Coloured etching of woman on a cross
  • In pictures

The fast and the spurious

Extreme fasting has captured the public imagination for centuries. What pushes people to claim to go without food for improbable lengths of time?

Part of Inside Our Collections

Frame of Loving comic by Rob Bidder. Two figures embrace with love hearts as eyes.
  • Comic

Loving

Learning how to be loved can be complicated.

Part of Body Squabbles

Illustration using collage techniques. Image shows a scene made up of mainly yellow and green hues. To the bottom centre is am examination table behind which stand 7 male doctors in white coats. Above them hovers a horizontal female figure, her arms crossed over her upper body. Hanging from beneath her are 5 paper labels with the text, 'Specimen' and 'Disease...' written on 2 of them. To the left of the image is an engraving of a young man looking at the floating figure through a telescope. To the right are illustrations of a plant and part of the palm leaves from a tree as well as an engraving of an academic male figure who looks like he's talking about the floating figure. Books and stars float around the floating figure.
  • Serial
Part2

The epilepsy diagnosis

Epilepsy exists between the mind and body, something that Aparna Nair experienced for herself when she was diagnosed as a teenager.

Part of Epilepsy and me

Illustration in the style of Manga graphic novels, showing a decapitated woman's head on the floor. Her body is lying behind her on a bed. Behind the bed stands a man with a horrified expression on his face. A long green ribbon trails from his hand, over the bed to the neck of the woman's head.
  • Article

On body horror and growing up strange

A young child’s unusual feelings, reactions and assertions are routinely dismissed by adults. Find out how manga horror stories became a source of strength, and helped them trust their adult body.