Questions tagged [medicine]
For questions about treatment methods as well as substances used to heal wounds and cure diseases.
194
questions
1
vote
1answer
37 views
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 ...
4
votes
2answers
71 views
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 ...
4
votes
2answers
835 views
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 ...
4
votes
4answers
359 views
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 ...
1
vote
2answers
138 views
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 ...
0
votes
1answer
111 views
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 ...
3
votes
6answers
298 views
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 ...
9
votes
3answers
726 views
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.
...
10
votes
5answers
2k views
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 ...
3
votes
1answer
180 views
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 ...
5
votes
7answers
267 views
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 ...
2
votes
8answers
686 views
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 ...
6
votes
6answers
408 views
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 ...
1
vote
0answers
63 views
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 ...
17
votes
9answers
4k views
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 ...
10
votes
6answers
2k views
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, ...
4
votes
2answers
771 views
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 ...
2
votes
5answers
311 views
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 ...
5
votes
3answers
261 views
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 ...
5
votes
8answers
380 views
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, ...
4
votes
2answers
166 views
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 ...
2
votes
3answers
157 views
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:...
-1
votes
1answer
157 views
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 ...
5
votes
4answers
112 views
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 ...
6
votes
3answers
187 views
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&...
5
votes
1answer
137 views
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 ...
5
votes
3answers
239 views
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 ...
-2
votes
2answers
179 views
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 ...
2
votes
1answer
87 views
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.
...
17
votes
16answers
6k views
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 ...
2
votes
2answers
210 views
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 ...
1
vote
2answers
157 views
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 ...
9
votes
1answer
835 views
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 ...
0
votes
1answer
211 views
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 ...
3
votes
3answers
247 views
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 ...
24
votes
16answers
8k views
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 ...
19
votes
4answers
3k views
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 ...
9
votes
3answers
417 views
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 ...
2
votes
4answers
139 views
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.
...
3
votes
2answers
139 views
False Teeth Made of Obsidian?
How feasible would a set of false teeth made of obsidian be? Assume technology has to be no more advanced than the mid 1800s.
If implausible for full time use, would such a set be practical enough to ...
2
votes
2answers
71 views
How could a mutation of an engineered virus initially be undetectable?
Doctors have found a way to identify the initial strain of this lethal, engineered virus. Most mutations have been easily identifiable by an AI-supported system.
Is it plausible that a mutated ...
5
votes
4answers
2k views
Terminal Disease in a Teenager [duplicate]
I’m trying to find the disease/condition my character is going through. She has been diagnosed with a terminal disease, most likely genetic, though not necessarily. She is in high school, so 15-17 ...
15
votes
5answers
1k views
Substance that counteracts one poison but accelerates/exacerbates the effect of another?
Is there an example of substances interacting with each other in the following way?
A is a lethal substance, killing within minutes to hours when orally ingested;
anti-A is an antidote for A (or at ...
5
votes
3answers
246 views
The cure for all bacteria-caused diseases
Which minimal order of magnitude is required to simulate single cells and microorganisms in cyberspace?
In an utopian future, people will be possibly able to rapidly design new cures, be their ...
9
votes
4answers
2k views
Modified stem cells as a resuscitation serum after death by cyanide poisoning?
In large doses, the body's ability to change cyanide into thiocyanate is overwhelmed. Large doses of cyanide prevent cells from using oxygen and eventually these cells die. The heart, respiratory ...
4
votes
3answers
1k views
Are there Drugs which Prevent Unconsciousness? [closed]
When torturing people or executing them in slow and painful ways, your victims sometimes fall unconscious, which ruins the point of the exercise. After all, if they aren't feeling the pain, then what ...
4
votes
5answers
184 views
What system could incentivize medical care to keep all people as healthy as possible? [closed]
I want a world where doctors are incentivized to keep all people as healthy as possible with the budget society is willing to spend on healthcare. It should also be a world where people would like to ...
-1
votes
2answers
347 views
Surgically interconnecting two people’s intestines [closed]
In my fictional dictatorship, a high-profile prisoner needs to be observed at all costs lest he harms himself or attempts to flee. Thus, the Ministry of State Security has devised a method of making ...
72
votes
16answers
6k views
How to give a rationality-inducing drug to an entire software company?
I'm a genius inventor who's managed to come up with a drug that increases the occurrence of rational behaviour over 400% among human beings. This drug makes humans more likely to communicate ...
16
votes
7answers
11k views
How long could a human survive completely without the immune system?
If the immune system of a healthy human just shut down completely and instantly (magic, nanotechnology, whatever), and after a certain time period it went back to normal, how much time without the ...
