Explore questions from across science through evidence, mechanisms, limitations, and the explanations behind familiar claims.
Find an explanation ↓
Yes. A person with latent tuberculosis infection can work in healthcare, including in direct patient care, because latent TB is not infectious and cannot be transmitted to patients or coworkers.
Read the story ↗Yes, steroids can raise the risk of a urinary tract infection (UTI), but they do not cause one on their own; bacteria still have to enter the urinary tract.
Yes, most people with an arrhythmia can and should exercise.
Yes, you can get high from secondhand smoke, but it requires a perfect storm of conditions that most people never encounter.
Yes, steroids can cause teeth problems, but almost always indirectly rather than by dissolving enamel.
Partly, yes. Congestive heart failure can be reversed in a meaningful minority of patients, but it is rarely cured.
Yes, you can get disability with spinal stenosis, but the diagnosis alone decides nothing.
Yes, you can build spice tolerance, and the mechanism is nerve desensitization rather than any change in your taste buds.
Yes—thyroid problems can affect memory and cognition, because thyroid hormones control gene transcription, brain glucose use, myelin maintenance, and neurotransmitter signaling; both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism can cause reversible…
No, you should not give a newborn gripe water during the first month unless a pediatrician explicitly approves it for that baby.
No. Vitamin K2 does not reverse established arterial calcification in humans, and no randomized trial has shown it can remove calcium already deposited in artery walls.
The answer to “Can you build muscle without eating protein?” is no, not literally with zero protein, but yes, some muscle can be added on a very low intake.
Yes, wine can cause black stool, but most often by darkening stool color rather than by producing true melena.
Yes, a baby can be born with HSV-1, but this is uncommon and almost always reflects infection around birth rather than infection inside the womb.
Can wearing blue light glasses cause headaches? Yes, in some people, but the blue-light filter itself is rarely the direct cause.
Yes, stroke can cause depression, and the link is both biological and psychological. The question, Can stroke cause depression, is settled: the mood disorder is a brain-based complication.
Can too much vitamin D raise your cholesterol? For most people, no: vitamin D excess causes high blood calcium, not a direct cholesterol spike, and randomized trials of ordinary doses generally show neutral or only small, inconsistent…
Toe spacers do not correct bunions; they can relieve pain by redistributing pressure, but they do not reverse the structural deformity.
Yes, but rarely. Spironolactone can cause liver damage, but it does so in fewer than 1 in 10,000 treated patients, and most people who take it never develop a liver problem.
The short answer is no, not as a treatment. Soaking your foot in Epsom salt can ease stiffness and surface pain for 20 to 40 minutes. It does not dissolve urate crystals, lower serum urate, or shorten a flare.
Yes, sparkling water can help mild nausea in some people, but it is a comfort measure rather than a proven treatment. Carbonated water may settle the stomach, provide cool fluid, and reduce the dry heaving urge when sips are small.
Yes, smoking weed can cause heart palpitations, and the effect is measurable within minutes of inhalation.
Yes, someone with autism can live a normal life, but the diagnosis alone does not determine that outcome. Normal may mean school, work, friendships, marriage, and independent housing, or supported employment and help with daily decisions.
Can sperm live in your mouth? Yes, but typically for minutes rather than hours outside laboratory conditions. Sperm need semen’s buffered, slightly alkaline fluid to keep their membranes stable and their tails moving.
AI-generated editorial images · Image policy
Show Me