Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

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

Medical science is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness.

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Were pen cap holes designed to prevent death by suffocation if swallowed?

Someone posted the following trivia on a social media website: Do you know that pen caps have holes so that if someone swallows a cap, then air could still pass through? This started a small debate, with some saying that the needed volume of air…
Adrian Iftode
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Did astronauts or cosmonauts have sex in space?

The Guardian: US and Russian astronauts have had sex in space for separate research programmes on how human beings might survive years in orbit, according to a book published yesterday. Pierre Kohler, a respected French scientific writer, says in…
Carlo Alterego
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Does circumcision lead to a net increase in quality of life?

I was recently surprised to learn that many Americans have been circumcised even though their parents had no religious motivation to go through with it. This in strong contrast with my home country where doctors are frequently refuse to perform the…
Kit Sunde
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Are the claims made by Indian Ministers / personalities regarding ancient Indian inventions true?

In the past couple of years, several Indian Ministers / personalities have made claims regarding existence of modern inventions in Ancient India. Prime Minister Modi claimed that genetic science and plastic surgery existed in Ancient…
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Is food cooked in a microwave oven harmful for the health?

A colleague of mine just made a comment about cooking food in a microwave oven. According to him it is considered to be harmful to one's health. Is it true?
Boris Pavlović
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Is food still safe to eat within 5 seconds after being dropped on the floor (5 second rule)?

Today in the cafeteria my friend dropped a chicken wing on the floor and immediately picked it up and ate it. Afterward he claimed that the chicken wing was still safe to eat if it was consumed within 5 seconds after being on the floor. He said that…
James
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Is the placebo effect a purely psychological effect?

The placebo effect plays a crucial role in clinical trials and in our understanding of medicine, but I have always had some difficulty in understanding how exactly it works. Is it a purely psychological effect, that you feel better because of the…
Mad Scientist
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Do we need to brush our teeth?

While everyone is telling us that we should brush our teeth twice a day, the human species has evolved for several million years without any teeth brushing. Apes don't brush their teeth, and they don't have a mechanism to change their teeth like…
SIMEL
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Do the majority of doctors in the USA support hydroxychloroquine use for covid-19?

The Claim Scott Adams recently made the claim that the majority of doctors in the USA support the use of hydroxychloroquine. Normally a cartoonist's podcast would not be a notable source for a claim, so it is worth reviewing the background. Context…
matt_black
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If smoking causes lung cancer, why has a decline in smoking not led to a decline in lung cancer?

According to the CDC, smoking prevalence among US adults (18+) has decreased quite a bit over the years: 1974: 37.1% of the population 1980: 33.2 1990: 25.5 2000: 23.3 2010: 19.3 According to cancer.gov the rates of new cases of lung cancer in the…
DaleJohnston
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Is acupuncture an effective treatment?

What evidence is there for or against acupuncture being an effective treatment?
Casebash
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Is deoxygenated blood blue?

I have encountered many people in my life that believe that your blood is blue until it hits the air and only then it turns red. The blue color of our veins is also explained the same way, as the deoxygenated blood in the veins is claimed to be…
JD Isaacks
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Is the COVID-19 vaccine 50 times more likely to kill young people than COVID-19 itself?

Michael Yeadon, a former vice president at Pfizer and lately known as, e.g., making unsubstantiated claims about COVID vaccinations, has made the claim in question in a video interview (archived version available here). Specifically, in the…
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Is there any explanation for a near-death experience?

One idea I used to hear a lot about was that when people are near-death and saved by medical science that they sometimes see "a light at the end of a tunnel" in a vision. Today I read about an article about a new best-seller from an ambitious…
Mark Rogers
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Are most cases of polio derived from the polio vaccine?

According to this National Public Radio article: For the first time, the number of children paralyzed by mutant strains of the polio vaccine are greater than the number of children paralyzed by polio itself. So far in 2017, there have been only six…
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