Chris Madden Cartoons

A searchable archive for licensing

A neurology cartoon about apophenia – seeing faces where they don’t exist

by

apohenia cartoon

Apophenia cartoon – seeing faces where they don’t exist
A cartoon from my selection of science cartoons

A cartoon showing scientists in a neurology department canteen. One of the scientists is about to eat a pizza and is saying “Amazing – this pizza looks exactly like the brain scan of someone who’s experiencing apophenia.”

The cartoon is about visual interpretation of images, false positives, the evolution of vision, neuroimaging, brain function, functional magnetic resonance imaging, computed axial tomography
Cartoon reference number: a539
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Science cartoons

by

science cartoon - scientific establishment resistance to change

A cartoon from my selection of science cartoons
Scientific research cartoon

Cartoon about resistance to change in sectors of the scientific establishment
The cartoon is focused on conservatism in the scientific establishment.
The caption says “Our research proves that the scientific establishment has developed immunity to radical new ideas.’

The cartoon illustrates the fact that all organisations and disciplines can be conservative to some extent
Cartoon reference number: a531
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Anti-vax cartoon

by

vaccination cartoon anti-vax

Anti-vax cartoon

A cartoon about anti-vaxxers and anti-vax conspiracy theories.
Anti-vax conspiracy theories are common at the time of writing (2020).
This cartoon however was drawn in 2007 (I think) for a BBC science magazine for an article about vaccine scare hysteria created by media driven hysteria over health issues. I think that was traditional media in those days, not social media as it would be now.
The cartoon shows a doctor looking at a hyperdermic syringe and thinking “One of the side effects of this vaccine will be a hysterical reaction in the media.”

A joke about medicine, doctors, hypodermic syringes, vaccinations, anti-vax, anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theories.

Cartoon drawn: 2007

Cartoon reference number: a530
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Safeguarding against litigation in the health service

by

health service litigation cartoon

Safeguarding against litigation in the health service – cartoon

An illustration depicting excessive health tests being done on a patient in order to guard against the possibility of later litigation against negligent health care

A cartoon about litigation culture, lawsuits against health services, doctors, hospitals.
This cartoon was originally drawn to illustrate an article in the BBC magazine Knowledge
Cartoon reference number: a527
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Health statistics cartoon

by

dentist drilling down to statistics cartoon

Health statistics cartoon
A cartoon showing a dentist ‘drilling down’ to find health statistics

The cartoon shows a man in a dentist’s surgery

The joke is in the pun on the term ‘drilling down’
Cartoon reference number: a525
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Government health advice – cartoon

by

government health advice cartoon

Government health advice cartoon
A cartoon about official health advice

A cartoon showing a man standing on weighing scales, with the scales breaking due to the great weight of the book of health guidelines that the man is holding.

A cartoon about excessive health guidelines, the nanny state, health and safety guidelines
Cartoon reference number: a524
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Norovirus cartoon – winter vomiting virus cartoon

by

norovirus cartoon

Norovirus cartoon
Winter vomiting virus cartoon

A cartoon about the annual recurrence of epidemics of the winter vomiting virus or norovirus

The cartoon is about the way that the press or media report the spread of the illness. The press has a tendency to distort statistics and to inflate risks for the sake of a good story, so it’s sometimes hard to know what the real risks from epidemics such as the norovirus (or bird flu, etc) really are.
Cartoon reference number: a503

Save the smallpox virus – cartoon

by

Save the smallpox virus - cartoon

Save the smallpox virus – cartoon

A parody on “Save the Whale” T-shirts and other T-shirts with slogans or messages on them
It’s also a cartoon about our attitudes to different species of animal, and which ones we feel moved to want to save (usually cute, cuddly, furry ones).

It’s also about animal rights, and where they should stop.

First version drawn: 1991

Cartoon reference number: a446

Medical budget increases – cost of medicine cartoon

by

health spending increasing graph cartoon

Health spending increasing – cartoon.
Increases in health spending caused by increased use of prescription drugs

Cartoon showing doctors and medical staff rolling a pill or tablet up a graph

A cartoon about the cost of medicine, the burden on the health services of the cost of medical treatment
Cartoon drawn: 2012
Cartoon reference number: a331b

Health budget – health spending increases cartoon

by

health spending rolling pill up graph cartoon

Health spending increasing – cartoon.
Increases in health spending caused by increased use of prescription drugs

Cartoon showing doctors and medical staff rolling a pill up a graph

A cartoon about the cost of medicine, the burden on the health services of the cost of medical treatment
Cartoon reference number: a331
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

How to deal with the impact of an aging population

by

aging population encourage smoking - cartoon

Aging population cartoon.

How to deal with the problem of an aging population

The comic suggests that a way to reduce the impact of an aging population is to encourage people to smoke more cigarettes, thus reducing the number of people who live to an old age.

The joke is that while these campaigns are normally about trying to improve people’s health, such as by campaigning to stop them smoking, the one depicted here is to encourage a method of shortening people’s lives by taking up smoking.
A cartoon about increasing numbers of pensioners, demographics, health policy, health education, anti-smoking campaigns, the tobacco industry.

Cartoon reference number: a317
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters
 

Gene doping cartoon or illustration. Will gene doping occur in the 2012 Olympics?

by

dna gene doping syringe illustration

Gene doping cartoon or illustration

A cartoon about gene doping in sport, Olympics gene doping. Genetic manipulation in competitive sport.

The illustration shows a hypodermic syringe with a double helix strand of dna inside it

Gene doping is defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as the non-therapeutic use of cells, genes, or genetic elements to improve athletic performance.
Gene manipulation for muscle enhancement in athletics and other sport has bioethical implications similar to those involved in chemical doping and other methods of gaining an unfair advantage over sporting competitors.
Genetic manipulation in athletics and other sport may include ways of increasing muscle growth, altering blood characteristics, increasing endurance, enhancing oxygen dispersal and reducing pain perception.
A cartoon or illustration about gene therapy, genetic manipulation, ethics of gene doping.

Cartoon reference number: a232
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Hospital garden cartoon – a sickly plant put on a drip

by

hospital garden cartoon

Hospital garden cartoon – plant on a drip

Hospital garden cartoon – showing a sickly plant that has been put on a drip

A cartoon showing a doctor in the garden of a hospital. He has noticed that one plant looks sickly, so he’s put it on a drip.
A cartoon about ways of supplying nutrients to garden plants. Drip mechanisms are a common method of irrigating crops or of watering garden plants, so the drip joke isn’t actually very far fetched.
Drawn: Oct 2007

Cartoon reference number: a171
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Illustration. A walking brain

by

walking brain illustration

Cartoon/illustration. A walking brian with legs and a head

Cartoon/illustration. A walking brian with legs and a head

I’m not sure what this drawing means. I suppose it’s something to do with the importance of the human brain’s contribution to what it means to be human. I don’t really know – it just popped into my head.
It’s probably a cartoon about psychiatry, neuroscience, neurology, how the mind works, how the brain works, cognition, the self.
Cartoon reference number: a071
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Smoking related health statistics cartoon

by

Smoking health cartoon. Misleading statistics for smoking-related illness

Smoking health cartoon
Cigarette cartoon

Cartoon caption: “If you smoke you’re less likely to die of an age-related illness”.
A cartoon about the misleading use of statistics.

A cartoon showing a research laboratory doing medical research into the medical and health related effects of smoking cigarettes. The rerearch laboratory belongs to an organisation called “The Tobacco Industry Research Centre”, indicating that it’s sponsored by the tobacco industry.
The results of the research are given a positive spin by announcing that they show that statistically cigarette smokers are less likely to die of age-related illnesses.
This is of course because smokers are statistically more likely to die before they get old enough to suffer from the diseases of old age.

A cartoon about vested interests, research bias, statistical misrepresentation, medical research, misleading health statistics.
Original cartoon drawn: 2010

Cartoon reference number: tob25

Dyslexia cartoon

by

dyslexia cartoon

A cartoon about dyslexia

Dyslexia Cartoon. This cartoon shows a dyslexic person arriving at an airport and not being able to read the notice that’s held by the man who’s there to meet him.
Dyslexia is the inability to recognise written words (word blindness), and is a condition that’s unrelated to intelligence or other cognitive functions

Cartoon reference number: dys881b

Food intolerance cartoon

by

Diet cartoon. A cartoon showing a person who is gluten intolerant, a person who is lactose intolerant and a person who is food fad intolerant.

Food fad cartoon
Diet cartoon
A cartoon about gluten intolerance, lactose intolerance and food fad intolerance

A cartoon about food intolerance, showing a person who is gluten intolerant (and who is rejecting some bread), a person who is lactose intolerant (and who is rejecting some milk) and a person who is food fad intolerant (and who eating a plate full of food that is normally labelled as unhealthy)

A cartoon about food fads, health, dietary fads, ibs, irritable bowel syndrome, nutrition, allergies, allergy, allergic reactions, food scares

Cartoon drawn: 2011
Cartoon reference number: fod910
How to obtain license to use cartoon

Follow via email

Please enter your email address if you would like to receive notifications of new cartoons by email.