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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.

The first public museums evolved from wealthy collectors’ cabinets of curiosities and were quickly recognised as useful vehicles for culture.

Death is many things to many cultures: violent, holy, frightening, calm, disgusting... or just a gateway to another life.

The AIDS public health poster campaign chose print even in the internet age and dealt with issues of identity and behaviour like never before.

The stories behind Rinehart's photographs may not be as black and white as they first appear.

In the second part of Native Americans through the 19th-century lens, we delve deeper into the ambivalent messages within the images.

The relationship between dogs and humans goes back a long way. These pictures from our archives show some of the highs and lows.

The great generator of confusion, rumours have not spared human health from their chaos. Find out how whispers, gossip and rumours have caused medical mishaps through the ages.

Not in the mood? Come and visit our traditional drug store for natural tonics rumoured to increase sexual desire.

Explore how ideas about masculinity have influenced the way men talk about and experience their mental health, from the 1800s to today.

Twentieth-century studies reveal a whole host of anxieties about the terrors of soft toilet paper.

Early-20th-century folklorist Edward Lovett made it his mission to discover the nation’s beliefs and superstitions, collecting amulets from cottage cupboards up and down the country.

How did drag develop from light-hearted female impersonation to a world-dominating art form?

Before antibiotics, syphilis unleashed centuries of misery, countered by desperate but largely useless remedies. With the spread of syphilis on the rise, it’s worth remembering what our forebears suffered.

Sickness from nervous exhaustion is not a new thing. Over a hundred years ago, neurasthenia afflicted society’s ‘brain-workers’.

From ancient sun gods to artificial light, our relationship to our star has morphed over the centuries, but the sun's power to affect our health is more noticeable than ever.

Many cultures associate physical cleanliness with spiritual purity, while disease and dirt are signs of moral pollution.

Today smoking is seen publicly as a deadly vice, privately perhaps as more of a guilty pleasure. Follow tobacco’s journey over the centuries from medical remedy to killer carcinogen.

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

Scratchy throat? Burning fever? Broken heart? It all comes down to the same issue: too much blood.