Questions tagged [medical-science]
Use this tag for questions about the science of medicine and its practices. Use [medications] for questions about the actual cures that people take, and use [alternative-medicine] for claims about cures and practices which are claimed to be alternative to official medical science
1,253
questions
7
votes
1
answer
694
views
Can Joy Milne smell Parkinson's disease?
There are plenty of online articles claiming that a woman called Joy Milne is able to tell whether someone has Parkinson disease by smell:
A British woman who can smell Parkinson’s disease has ...
- 2,001
4
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Can people "wake up" with a new accent? (Foreign Accent Syndrome)
This MSN article from 2018-02-13 claims that an American woman fell asleep with a bad headache, and woke up with a British accent.
This has been widely reported, including by The Washington Post ...
- 1,197
2
votes
0
answers
319
views
Is medical self diagnosis (rather then seeing a doctor) harmful? [closed]
DualDiagnosis writes in Issues and Dangers of Self-Diagnosis:
But sometimes people skip the doctor’s office, and they hop online to diagnose their own diseases. While this method might seem ...
- 32.8k
16
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Was very little or no new medication developed in the USSR?
Prof. Robert (Haim) Belmaker, head of the Israeli Psychiatric Association, spoke today (2018-01-05) on the סדר יום / Daily Agenda radio program (Note this is a program in Hebrew).
At some point in the ...
- 2,071
15
votes
2
answers
930
views
Are fish oil capsules beneficial?
Page 28 of the February 2018 edition of Which? magazine says,
(You don't need...)
Fish oils such as Omega 3 capsules
Unless you are advised to take these, you don't need to. Studies show that ...
- 26.4k
11
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Did doctors/scientists say that breaking the 4-minute mile was impossible?
Roger Bannister's feat of breaking the 4-minute mile is often accompanied with assertions that the scientific community at the time deemed the feat impossible (or, if possible, would be fatally ...
- 111
50
votes
3
answers
27k
views
Russian scientist injects himself with 3.5 million-year-old bacteria, says he is now stronger and hasn't gotten ill in 2 years
I have found several articles regarding a Russian scientist, Anatoli Brouchkov:
Anatoli Brouchkov is a soft-spoken guy with silver hair, and when he lets out a reserved chuckle, his eyes light up ...
- 1,005
9
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Is depression caused by chemical imbalances?
According to this recent Quartz article:
The theory that [depression is] caused by chemical imbalances is false.
And:
[Chemical imbalance as the cause of depression] was once a tentatively-...
- 15.1k
16
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Do elevators increase radiation from cell phone use?
Literally every elevator I’ve been in during my stay in Israel has a sign which says that cell phone use is prohibited - not because of disturbing other passengers, or because the metal car blocks the ...
- 349
9
votes
1
answer
687
views
Do wifi and cellphones increase the risk of miscarriage?
Over the past few days, a whole bunch of news articles have claimed that WiFi and cellphone signals increase a pregnant woman's miscarriage risk. Some examples:
"WiFi and mobile phones could increase ...
user43226
7
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Does too much sex, or STDs, cause urination after sneezing?
From Billy Baldwin (verified user, 109 RTs, 805 likes, Wikipedia biography), referring to Jenna Jameson, who used to be a porn star:
Curious to know what might've caused that sneeze-pee condition ...
- 38.8k
2
votes
1
answer
437
views
Did a ketogenic diet successfully treat epileptic seizures of a young girl?
This recent CBC News article: How a high-fat diet helped curb a Laval child's daily seizures claims a neurologist, Dr. Bradley Osterman changed the diet of a really young girl to treat her epileptic ...
10
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Is there a scientific consensus that "no level of [ionizing] radiation is safe"?
This video criticizes Scott Pruit's EPA's proposed 10-fold increase of the maximum allowed radiation dose in water. It also claims scientists agree "no level of radiation is safe"; apparently, this ...
- 297
14
votes
0
answers
457
views
Are the majority of modern cancer drugs useless?
Cancer is one of those diseases that cause dread in its victims and their families. Though many are treatable or even curable, many others are not and there is great pressure on medics to offer any ...
- 56.1k
2
votes
0
answers
107
views
Were the reference ranges of liver function tests set three times higher than their usual values during the research on the use of statins?
I am now holding a book called "The Hidden Therapies - What your doctor won't tell you" authored by Jerzy Zięba, who is widely considered to be a quack by medical authorities in my country. ...
- 2,495
2
votes
0
answers
118
views
Was there any scientic research backing up the setting of the reference range of cholesterol up to 200 mg/dl?
I am now holding the original, Polish edition of a book called "The Hidden Therapies - What your doctor won't tell you" authored by Jerzy Zięba, who is widely considered to be a quack by medical ...
- 2,495
2
votes
0
answers
179
views
Did Gary Taubes prove that cholesterol levels between 200 mg/dl and 240 mg/dl are normal and healthy?
I am now holding the original, Polish edition book called "The Hidden Therapies - What your doctor won't tell you" authored by Jerzy Zięba, who is widely considered to be a quack by medical ...
- 2,495
2
votes
0
answers
212
views
Was the cholesterol reference range set up to 200 mg/dl in order to to allow the research on statins on a wide range of population?
I am now holding the original, Polish edition of a book called "The Hidden Therapies - What your doctor won't tell you" authored by Jerzy Zięba, who is widely considered to be a quack by ...
- 2,495
83
votes
1
answer
17k
views
Are female surgeons less likely to kill you?
A 2017 article in The Times has the following headline:
Female surgeons less likely to kill you, study finds
The article reports:
Patients operated on by a woman are less likely to die within a ...
- 56.1k
5
votes
0
answers
3k
views
Does female genital mutilation reduce the risk of a woman's partner getting HPV?
If you love your husband
Get yourself circumcised
Because the germs under your prepuce
Can reach his mouth when he pleasures your clitoris
And cause him oral cancer
...
The culprit ...
- 38.8k
38
votes
1
answer
7k
views
Does mortality fall when doctors go on strike?
In a 2017 article arguing that inaction is sometimes better than action (the urge to do something often dominates the urge to do the right thing) Tim Harford makes the following comment (I've included ...
- 56.1k
3
votes
0
answers
224
views
Do medical studies suffer extensive publication bias? [closed]
https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/02/13/amp/publication-bias.aspx
Half of all clinical trials ever completed on the medical treatments currently in use ...
user42086
12
votes
0
answers
954
views
Wim Hof immune response techniques
Wim Hof practices several techniques which he claims lead to voluntarily influencing the immune system resulting in increased resistance to toxins and the cold. The techniques are categorised into ...
- 221
4
votes
0
answers
191
views
Does dark chocolate benefit athletic performance?
Dark chocolate has been "proven" to increase the performance of (amateur) athletes competing in endurance sports.
Some sources:
fitnessmagazine.com
Deakin University
The Telegraph
... and many more.
...
- 701
9
votes
0
answers
416
views
Can a Diabetic Alert Dog detect changes in blood sugar 15 minutes earlier than a glucose meter?
The claim:
I caught a segment about Diabetes Alert Dogs on of a TV show called The Doctors in my office's lunch room, and saw the following claim, which is repeated in an article on their website ...
- 1,197
11
votes
1
answer
714
views
Do elephants rarely get cancer?
According to Hope fights childhood cancer:
Elephants have 40 cancer fighting proteins in their DNA which means they rarely get cancer
This immediately made me think of the false claims that sharks ...
- 5,641
2
votes
0
answers
255
views
Smell of a Body [closed]
There's many fictional and nonfictional stories about passerby detecting dead bodies inside buildings and such by an "overwhelming stench of decay" or something equivalent, usually even through thick ...
- 21
12
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Can honey help heal wounds?
Many sources claim that honey help healing wounds. Consider for example
DermNet New Zealand
consultant360
webmd
TF1 telejournal (in french)
From DermNet New Zealand, it seems that honey is most ...
- 2,001
-2
votes
1
answer
819
views
Is 7:30-8:15am the best time to have sex?
Russian language media (as usual, citing usual unnamed "british researchers"), reported that 7:30-8:15am is the best time to have sex.
Британские исследователи назвали лучшее время для занятия ...
- 31.1k
5
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Did some Moroccan teens contract rabies through bestiality?
Several news sources have reported that 15 teenagers contracted rabies in Morocco after having sex with a donkey, e.g. (in Spanish):
Morocco World News: 15 Teenagers Treated for Rabies After Engaging ...
- 316
2
votes
1
answer
540
views
Do 38% of couples conceive within one month of trying to conceive?
This article has the following claims about success rates of couples trying to conceive.
One study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, followed women
who were trying to get pregnant by ...
- 10.1k
7
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Do ultra-heavy blankets reduce stress and anxiety?
There's some buzz on news sites that seems to come from an article here:
Scientists Assert That Ultra-Heavy Blankets Actually Reduce Stress and Anxiety
which I think is connected to a Kickstarter ...
- 31.1k
11
votes
1
answer
14k
views
Is it possible to get high smoking banana peel?
I know this sounds ridicoulous but some people are claiming that you can get high smoking banana peel
Is it true?
And if it is how does it work?
- 115
17
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Does the US have the highest "natural" life expectancy?
An article titled The Myth of Americans' Poor Life Expectancy claims that the US leads the OECD in life expectancy once the numbers are adjusted to remove deaths due to fatal injuries.
Unfortunately, ...
- 369
4
votes
1
answer
326
views
Does Ginkgo Biloba "promote memory"?
Most Ginkgo Biloba supplements are sold with the following claims:
Studied and Shown to promote memory and provide healthy circulation to the body's extremities. (src)
Helps support your memory ...
- 31.1k
6
votes
1
answer
881
views
Does a sedentary lifestyle cause health concerns?
There're number of articles that suggest sedentary lifestyle is dangerous for health some of which go as far as saying it's as bad as smoking.
According to an article on John Hopkins Medicine:
Lack ...
- 161
12
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Can split personalities have different physical traits?
It is sometimes claimed that the multiple personalities of a person with dissociative identity disorder may not only display different character, behaviour, and movement types, but even show different ...
- 225
57
votes
1
answer
11k
views
Do hot peppers kill cancer?
While browsing Health.SE, I came across an answer that makes the following claim:
A 2007 study by Nottingham University2 found that spicy foods can help kill cancer cells. Capsaicin, which is what ...
- 699
2
votes
2
answers
363
views
Does radiation sensitivity decrease with age? [closed]
Just after 3:23 in this TED Radio Hour segment, featured guest Holly Morris makes the claim that "the older you are, the less detrimental the effects of radiation is." The context is in why ...
- 329
10
votes
1
answer
610
views
Is possible for male human to breast feed?
There are some stories circling around about man breast feeding.
Humboldt wrote about it.
What is know about this? Is this really lactation?
- 229
6
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Do the seeds from 20 apples contain a fatal dose of cyanide?
This Healthline article claims:
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1-2 mg/kg is a fatal oral dose of cyanide for a 154 lbs. (70 kg) man. You would need to finely chew and ...
- 163
5
votes
0
answers
421
views
Does flicking your fingers while your palms are on your ears cure tinnitus?
Go90 published a video that was shared by George Takei on Facebook, garnering many millions of views.
It shows some anecdotal evidence of a handful of long-term tinnitus sufferers apparently being ...
- 139k
59
votes
1
answer
8k
views
Do teenagers fall asleep and rise up later than kids or adults for biological reasons?
In a TED talk "Why school should start later for teens", Wendy Toxel made an assertion that teenagers naturally fall asleep and rise up a couple of hours later than children OR adults (related to ...
- 31.1k
6
votes
1
answer
406
views
Transdermal absorption of magnesium using "magnesium oil"?
A friend of mine has been advocating "magnesium oil" as an alternative to oral magnesium supplements. Products based on this are widely advertised and promoted on the web.
But in this Skeptics ...
- 161
6
votes
1
answer
720
views
Do antibiotic resistant infections kill 700,000 people a year?
The BBC news website ran a piece earlier this month by Dr Michael Mosley, which included the following claim:
The problem is not, of course, confined to India. It's estimated that antibiotic-...
- 420
3
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Is Kambo frog poison dangerous and/or useful?
According to How Amazonian Tree Frog Poison Became the Latest Treatment for Addiction
The use of kambo—the poison of a bright green frog—is on the rise as an alternative treatment for depression ...
- 1,100
6
votes
1
answer
7k
views
Can mold cause GERD (acid reflux)?
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) is more commonly known as acid reflux.
According to Metabolic Healing is can be triggered by mold spores:
This is a little known but potentially major cause ...
- 6,711
21
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Are Unvaccinated Children Healthier?
Got this today on my facebook wall...
Alarming New Study: Unvaccinated Kids are Healthier
The study’s findings really make you wonder. Here’s some of the specifics:
Vaccinated children ...
- 1,062
14
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Do hats or ponytails induce baldness?
There is a sort-of myth that wearing hats, tight ones in particular, can cause balding, or at least speed it up. Another one is wearing ponytails, or, more generally, hairstyles that tightly pull the ...
- 473
2
votes
1
answer
477
views
Is depression caused by an allergic reaction?
I ran across an article today, and found several others online, that all suggest that depression could be the result of an 'allergic reaction'.
Recent research is showing that depression is an ...
- 1,964