Questions tagged [medicine]
For questions about treatment methods as well as substances used to heal wounds and cure diseases.
179
questions
11
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
764 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
244 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 ...
4
votes
3answers
195 views
Infectious hemophilia
I want to know if the disease I invented is realistic or a total fiction.
Coagulopathies or bleeding disorders, like hemophilia, are diseases in which the blood's ability to coagulate is impaired.
But,...
5
votes
8answers
370 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, ...
3
votes
2answers
140 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
152 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
146 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
110 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
183 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
117 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
203 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
175 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
79 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
153 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
144 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
829 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
209 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
244 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 ...
10
votes
3answers
404 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
132 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
129 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
69 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
233 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
179 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
332 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 ...
71
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
10k 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 ...
4
votes
3answers
399 views
Can mithridatism be used to create immunity/anti-toxin for others?
Say there is a plant-based toxin that causes what is essentially a state of deep sedation but has no other real effects. In this world there is one animal that is immune to this toxin (the plant is ...
1
vote
2answers
541 views
How to inflict as much pain as possible with the injection of a syringe? [closed]
A character of mine is supposed to be tortured to death. Most of the pain will be inflicted by nanotechnology injected into her, however the guy injecting her is a real sadist and likes the personal ...
3
votes
1answer
113 views
How would it be to be revived from voluntary death? (cryostasis)
Cryostasis, suspended animation, cryo-preservation or cryosleep (the marketing guy's prefer this last one as "Oh yeah, we gonna kill you in a manner we that will hopefully make it possible to revive ...
17
votes
5answers
1k views
Could a simple hospital oxygen mask protect from aerosol poison?
I'm writing a story in which a character has to make it through an area filled with aerosol poison...or something along those lines. He starts out in a hospital area, with access to equipment. Is it ...
5
votes
5answers
1k views
What would be the next technological step after advancing from cybernetic body parts to nanotechnology? [closed]
Technology in 2019 has many ways of augmenting the human body, for example: hearing aids, pacemakers, artificial hips, breast implants, artificial spine discs, coronary stents and even artificial eye ...
25
votes
15answers
4k views
Why is transplanting a specific intact brain impossible if it is generally possible?
In the near future Science Fiction novel I am writing, the personality and memory of a person are transferred to an artificial brain after a fatal accident, creating an artificial intelligence with ...
4
votes
5answers
261 views
How useful would a pharmacist be in ancient times [closed]
Would a modern pharmacist be able to improve life expectancy of the known world by a huge margin if they traveled back to ancient times with none of their equipment preferably around 1500bc Egypt
25
votes
8answers
5k views
Where to place an artificial gland in the human body?
An artificial endocrine gland is cultured in the lab and is to be inserted in a person. This gland functions by secreting special substances in the blood stream.
It needs to be placed in a position ...
15
votes
4answers
4k views
Is surviving this (blood loss) scenario possible?
So my character (16 yr old girl) got a deep cut (inches across) from a dagger across her torso and is knocked unconscious. (She falls onto her back) She had just enough time to contact her friends ...
15
votes
9answers
4k views
How would the law enforce a ban on immortality? [closed]
I'm writing a fantasy story where magic is common and wizards follow a strict code of conduct. One of those tenets is "never stray from humanity and do not seek immortality or godhood." While I admit ...
2
votes
0answers
88 views
Equipment needed for comatose/bedridden persons outside a hospital? [closed]
I'm still working on a short story series revolving around a resistance cell who fight against an oppressive, dystopian government. To make a long story short, they use a popular hotel chain as a ...
2
votes
2answers
192 views
Injury to the lower jaw - what would be the consequences?
One of my characters suffers an injury where a spike pierced his lower jaw and severed his tongue. Ignoring the fact that he may not have survived this wound under normal circumstances (eldritch ...
5
votes
4answers
235 views
Nanobots that search and destroy cells with damaged mitochondrion [closed]
I read somewhere that scientists are trying to create nanobots carrying functional mitochondria to search out cancer cells and restart apoptosis. Instead of trying to create nanobots with a fully ...
4
votes
3answers
201 views
Mechanical/Cybernetic Replacement for Eye and Optic Nerve
My character has a prosthetic, or technically you could say a bionic or cybernetic, left eye. For one reason or another, the replacement eye couldn’t be connected directly to the optic nerve. Instead, ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
Realistic Bacta Tank Fluid
Ever since I watched Star Wars I have always been fascinated with the Bacta Tank: that tank with the funky blue liquid Luke Skywalker was submerged in.
But now I'm wondering could it become reality? ...
asked Jun 10 '19 at 15:11
Celestial Dragon Emperor
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