Nov 2018 – late 2019 Everyone breathes. From a baby’s first cries to a dying gasp, breath is an ever-present companion on the journey through life. Breathing isn’t just a biological process. It enables us to communicate, to speak, to … Read more…
10-12 July 2018, Durham Breathing is a basic physiological process, yet also has deep cultural, spiritual and personal meaning. However, although breath and breathing are such resonant and urgent subjects, they have never been the subject of systematic cultural or … Read more…
9 May 2018, Bristol Lung function measurements are routinely ‘corrected’ for race and/or ethnicity transnationally. In this talk, Professor Lundy Braun draws on the historical and scientific literature on lung function measurements to examine how philosophical ideas of racial difference … Read more…
20 March 2018, Stockton-on-Tees Durham team member Andrew Russell visits Cafe Scientifique in Stockton to discuss tobacco. Join him to ponder the place of this humble plant in indigenous communities, its exploitation by capitalism and the consequences for health, and … Read more…
How do we accurately measure hearing loss? In a new paper in The British Journal for the History of Science, Life of Breath researcher Coreen McGuire (University of Bristol) and Jaipreet Virdi shed light on the career of Dr Phyllis Margaret Tookey Kerridge (1901–1940) – a pioneer … Read more…
25 August 2017, Edinburgh DECODING THE SECRETS OF THE AIR Science writer Sam Kean traces the origins and ingredients of our atmosphere in Caesar’s Last Breath. This fascinating investigation shows how what we breathe has shaped human progress, been the … Read more…
19-20 August 2017, Edinburgh Feeling ‘peched oot’ from rushing around the Festival? Pause for a lungful and help Sarah McLusky and Mary Robson create an illuminated encyclopaedia exploring the language and history of breath and air. Contribute your words, definitions, … Read more…
13 August 2017, Edinburgh FROM POETRY TO PRAYER Seen historically as a way of maintaining a healthy body and mind through the expelling of melancholy, sighing is now fertile ground for psychologists to assess a person’s emotional state. For a … Read more…
Some may wonder why our project includes the consideration of medieval thoughts and practices relating to the breath. What can studying them possibly offer modern medicine? In a special edition of the journal postmedieval two of our project team, Prof Corinne … Read more…
Closing date: 21 June 2017 The Life of Breath team at the University of Bristol are recruiting a postdoctoral research associate in history of medicine. The post, offered for 2 years, could examine the recent history of COPD, which has not … Read more…
The header shows Ascent of Lunardi’s Balloon from St George’s Fields, London, 1788-90 by J. C. Ibbetson, which will be part of the Royal West of England Academy exhibition ‘Air: Visualising the Invisible in British Art 1768-2017’, as does this … Read more…
Tina Williams, PhD student on the Life of Breath project, writes a post prompted by the inaugural lecture of Prof. Jerry Nolan (audio recording now available), Honorary Professor of Resuscitation Medicine in the School of Clinical Sciences, University of Bristol: Loss. … Read more…
Understanding how thoughts and feelings can affect the body is a key strand of our research. Here, team member Corinne Saunders explores how the interaction of mind, body and emotion in both the characters and readers of Chaucer’s romantic works can provide an insight into medieval … Read more…
Rebecca Oxley, post-doctoral research fellow on the Life of Breath project, writes about the recent project launch in Durham (see Making the invisible visible (1): Life of Breath officially launched its programme of work in Durham this week by offering a … Read more…
Jess Farr-Cox (Project Manager, Bristol) writes: Our recent official launch of the project was in many ways a model of interdisciplinarity.[1] The team is diverse and large, which gives us a richness of perspective, but also creates difficulties in how … Read more…