Questions tagged [medicine]
For questions about treatment methods as well as substances used to heal wounds and cure diseases.
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Could interspecies blood transfusion from organisms of various sizes occur?
In my universe, there are sixteen species from the Homo genus: anatomically modern humans, demons, angels, merfolk, ogres, giants, halflings, dwarves, elves, goblins, gnomes, orcs, trolls, vampires, ...
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Minimum set of specialities to cover most medical needs
I'm writing a fictional story and there is an eccentric billionaire who has his own personal staff of medical personnel. What would be some specialities to consider to include in this group. He is a ~...
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What would it be like to have your hand chopped off by an axe? [closed]
A child character in my book was caught stealing food for their parents and the people who caught them chop off their right hand with an axe as a lesson to "keep their dirty hands off".
I've ...
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What kind of genetic mutation would make a woman produce more testosterone than a man? [duplicate]
Considering that in my story the woman has a XX cariotype( not AIS) and has PCOS or other condition that make her body produce a lot of androgens. I know that some conditions can make the adrenal ...
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Why costly time released shapeshifting drug is more popular than fast acting ones?
In my story shapeshifting drugs are controlled and only widely used for therapeutic medical purposes only, a recent study showed a young patient with severe depression and poor appetite is suddenly ...
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At what point could nanobots replace hospitals and medical services?
In my opinion, nanorobotics is the most interesting part of nanotechnology, and medicine and healthcare would be two of the areas that could benefit the most from nanobots.
Since nanobots could ...
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What would a heterozygote advantage against the mutant coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 look like?
Some heterozygote advantages in humans are:
People with sickle-cell trait are resistant to malaria, but people with sickle-cell disease tend to die young.
Depending of the source we believe, people ...
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A pill that "pauses" the worsening or healing of a condition
It was 2050 when scientists discovered a pill that can temporarily "pause" the change of a condition. After taking it orally, the condition of the patient stays unchanged for some time. ...
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How can a creature get high off of anti-acne medication?
For some reason, there's a creature that gets high off of acne medication, as per the title.
Specifically, when it ingests a certain quantity of clindamycin phosphate 1 % topical solution - an ...
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What would prevent Big Pharma from marketing witch potions to consumers in pill form?
Potions have been the traditional solution for medical issues throughout history for populations within witch society. Witches were seen as the doctors of their community, treating people with various ...
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What would a heterozygote advantage against rabies look like?
Some heterozygote advantages in humans are:
People with sickle-cell trait are resistant to malaria, but people with sickle-cell disease tend to die young.
Depending of the source we believe, people ...
- 3,442
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1
answer
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Lab Grown Organs and post surgery challenges [closed]
What would be the surgical and post surgical challenges for someone who would receive a lab grown organ created specifically for them. Would they need immunosuppressants for the rest of their life or ...
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Heterozygote advantage against influenza/flu
Some heterozygote advantages in humans are:
People with sickle-cell trait are resistant to malaria, but people with sickle-cell disease tend to die young.
Depending of the source we believe, people ...
- 3,442
4
votes
2
answers
859
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Feasibility of an amateur setting their own broken nose
I am working on a fantasy set in a medieval age (the exact time period is loose due to magic progressing science differently to the real world), and an experienced fistfighter gets their nose broken ...
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How could a medieval person drug someone to sleep?
My story takes place in a fantasy world with roughly medieval level technology (as is to be expected in that genre). One of my characters intends to spike someone's drink in order to make them fall ...
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Surviving and using lighting strikes
Character 1 has the ability to summon thunder strikes down on himself and has learned how to redirect them through the surface of his skin.
He uses a 25 kilograms 5 meters long metallic pole to call ...
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Your body is just a machine, now it's my turn to drive
Perfect genes, all around a good body and perfect health.
Except everyone has their own drawbacks, perfection can't exist.
That's why the owner of those perfect genes is a complete utterly idiotic ...
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completely unregulated drugs and their effect on economy
In this world when your 16 years old skater daughter buys a monster energy, it doesn't just contain proteins and caffeine but might have things such as Anavar, Trenbolone, cocaine and even Period ...
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How quickly could adrenaline booster drugs work?
Here I'm thinking about something loosely similar to what Clarissa Mao has in The Expanse, in which she is able to have limited superstrength and agility for a short period before she passes out.
...
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How do Roman analogues purify air in a mushroom forest?
The Valyn are a Roman analogue who have been exiled to live in a hostile mushroom forest with daily mist in the vein of a Cloud forest. The air is absolutely brimming with mold, spores, and ...
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Is it medically possible to give someone super strength with gene editing?
I'm trying to find a reasonable medical explanation for a normal-looking human having around 10x the strength of the general population, defined for the sake of easily-measurable goals as the amount ...
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How could a universal translation drug work?
Rather than a machine or computer to translate things, how could a sci fi drug of some sort (such as a pill that one or both parties has to take and be under the influence of, or a gas that fills an ...
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What ingredient is required to make a salve that can rapidly heal wounds in around 5 minutes?
In medieval times, instead of using potions to heal wounds, they use a healing salve that can rapidly heal open wounds of all types in, let's say, 5 minutes. (Not really severe ones or closed wounds ...
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How do you keep a medicine's effect isolated to a particular body tissue?
In my world, a newly independent Mars established incentives to draw in scientists, engineers, and academics. Brilliant people flocked in from around the solar system, to fill high-paying but very ...
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To what extent can mania or depression be reliably pharmacologically induced with current technology? [closed]
Let's say in this world there was a nefarious government agency that had zero legal oversight wanted to induce psychological problems into a potential dissident via drugs.
To what degree could that be ...
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What disease could my time traveler find a definitive 'cure' for, without recognizing the specific disease
I've been toying with a story of person sent to a alternate reality that mirrors medieval Europe, but not necessarily with identical history/countries. The time traveler would earn the trust/support ...
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What is my environmental poison?
I have a small number of people (300ish) that live in marshlands/bog/wetlands environment. They are infertile, live about two thirds of a normal lifespan, and have hallucinations, poor memory, ...
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Stimulant which kills the user in the absence of strenuous physical activity
I recently had an idea for a sci-fi story about death's row inmates (possibly war criminals) being subjected to an experimental stimulant which greatly increases their strength and agility, but will ...
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How feasible are these two drastically differnt technological pathways for different civilizations?
So, I have two human civilizations on different planets. They both start from the stone age. (How the humans got there is not particularly relevant.) It is worth noting that most of the biosphere on ...
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Infectious hemophilia
I want to know if the disease I invented is realistic or a total fiction.
Coagulopathies or bleeding disorders, like hemophilia, and Von Willebrand's syndrome, are diseases in which the blood's ...
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Would it ever be possible to "vaccinate" against feelings/ideas/beliefs?
If we think of some world views as viruses... Would it hypothetically be possible to create a vaccine for this or, in another way, make a person immune to these views? I'm thinking racism, xenophobia, ...
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Mounting a cybernetic prosthetic arm
So I have a steampunk setting with some magic and I have a young, 20 year old female character who is supposed to have a full prosthetic arm. It might be assumed that the answer to this question could ...
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Possibility of detecting drug taking athletes in a 16 century setting?
The empire hates cheating and manipulation of honest trades or sports. There is an explosion of sports and athletic events and all that. So. They are very popular.
Sports in general include stuff like:...
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Most painful/slow way to kill somebody by throwing off a building? [closed]
Let's say that a modern dictatorship wants to publicily execute somebody by repeatedly pushing him off a building. However, as we all know from stories of people jumping off skyscrapers, death might ...
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Can facial Nerve damage cause all facial functions to shut down (temporarily)?
So I'm writing a character that cut his face very deep making a big x mark on his face at some point in the past to scare off a couple of thugs.
He survived the ordeal, but now it so happens that ...
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Effects of accidentally transferring pockets of air into body
An innovative treatment for cancer and broken bones involves the precise removal and replacement of the affected tissue with artificially grown tissue. The tissue (or piece of bone) is "beamed&...
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What would happen if someone got stabbed with this taser sword? [closed]
In my world there is a weapon that's basically a magical high voltage, high current sword.
It accumulates electricity and when it touches a flesh it instantly discharges, the electricity is supposed ...
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Magic and medicine: The perils of treating dragons
In my story's world, dragons have been living alongside humans for some time now. Of course, there are hospitals and other medical facilities variable to them. Now, as some of the staff of said ...
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Scaphism 2.0: Execution by Compost
As a swamp used for scaphism is about to become a national park, a local government of my psychotic dictatorship is looking for an alternative way to carry out such executions.
A local farmer has ...
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What affects would magic potions have on medicine and trade? [closed]
I got a world in which magic potions cure all non magical diseases with ease.
They are used for humans, animals, and even added to water that would be used to grow plants and crops and so on.
...
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How do I ensure that two characters survive the black death without making them naturally immune?
Everyone in my community is collapsing to the ground and dying painfully. My husband, he is one of the few remaining men to bury the dead and I worry that soon I'll be left alone.
How do I ensure that ...
user75689
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2
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Metal set of teeth and fingernails at a medieval time
I was wondering if it possible to have a set of teeth made of metal (i didn't chose any metal in particular, it could be silver, gold, what ever), and if so, does it have to remove every tooth and ...
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What are the realistic limits of human drug enhancement? [closed]
Assuming fairly plausible technologies, what is the most fairly simple drugs could do?
In The Expanse there is a focus drug used by a Martian interrogator that allows him to be better at reading ...
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Placebo-worthy drug?
Are there any medicine out there specifically used to treat serious illnesses (it could be something as simple as painkillers to something for a very rare chronic illness) that could be swapped out ...
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Time travelling virus anno 1900
One of the most well known, but commonly ignored issues of time travel is this:
Due to the fact that viruses and bacteria constantly evolve, diseases that we are today resistant to have never before ...
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Cheat sheet for recovery times after injuries
People in my story are always getting themselves injured. Adventuring is dangerous and weapons are bountiful.
I want to write this ~1300s fantasy as "realistically" as possible, which includes ...
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How can a modern medic help medieval patients
My modern doctor has been time-slipped to a medieval city, without any equipment. She has the patronage of a powerful, rich noble, so being accused of witchcraft is not a problem. She will be ...
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What would a corpse of a person who drowned in mercury look like?
I want to use a mercury based golem as a enemy in a murder mystery P&P story. The golem flows through cracks and under doors and envelops its victims until they are dead. Let's assume that the ...
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Happiness is Mandatory
Happiness is mandatory. Unhappiness is treason. Treason is punishable by summary execution. Are you happy, citizen? - Friend computer.
Welcome to Beta Complex, the little brother of Alpha Complex. We ...
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How could a medical crisis unite two countries which once bitterly hated each other?
How could a medical crisis unite two countries previously at odds and usher them into a new era of peace, prosperity and perhaps even unity? Think of South and North Korea, or Israel and Palestine.
...
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