4 ms·

I have bad news for you, this is the case for many drugs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Drugs_with_unknown_mechanisms_of_action https://en.wikipedia.o

by nom 3y ago

I have bad news for you, this is the case for many drugs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Drugs_with_unknown_mechanisms_of_action https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Drugs_with_unknown_me... We don't know how paracetamol works.

gkhartman 3y ago
That list seems pretty incomplete/sparse. It's pretty unsettling that paracetamol, as common as it is in modern medicine, would still lack a known mechanism of action. I wonder if it's just a hard question to answer, or something more boring like research cost vs benefit ratios etc.
- jagraff 3y ago
  It is an extremely hard question to answer. Think about how hard it is to debug software, even though software is designed by humans, is intended to be readable by humans, and has tools to help us in analyzing it. Then think about how much harder it would be to understand a system that instead came about by billions of years of chance mutations building up to develop self reproducing systems that are not at all meant to be easily understood, and that follow much more complex rules (quantum mechanics) than binary computers do.
- shtack 3y ago
  there’s a relevant xkcd, as usual: https://xkcd.com/2682/ https://xkcd.com/2682/
retrac 3y ago
There's no generally accepted theory for the mechanism of action of inhalational anaesthetics like xenon, which induces a deep coma, somehow, despite being almost chemically inert.
- whats_a_quasar 3y ago
  My understanding for Xenon is that it's huge electron shell means that it has an induced dipole in the presence of other dipoles in the body. It then affects receptors with dipole-dipole bonds. I was also confused by Xenon working as an anesthetic, and found it interesting that it can interact with the body without forming chemical bonds. Doesn't work for the lighter noble gasses.

4 ms·

I have bad news for you, this is the case for many drugs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Drugs_with_unknown_mechanisms_of_action https://en.wikipedia.o

by nom 3y ago

gkhartman 3y ago
That list seems pretty incomplete/sparse. It's pretty unsettling that paracetamol, as common as it is in modern medicine, would still lack a known mechanism of action. I wonder if it's just a hard question to answer, or something more boring like research cost vs benefit ratios etc.
- jagraff 3y ago
  It is an extremely hard question to answer. Think about how hard it is to debug software, even though software is designed by humans, is intended to be readable by humans, and has tools to help us in analyzing it. Then think about how much harder it would be to understand a system that instead came about by billions of years of chance mutations building up to develop self reproducing systems that are not at all meant to be easily understood, and that follow much more complex rules (quantum mechanics) than binary computers do.
- shtack 3y ago
  there’s a relevant xkcd, as usual: https://xkcd.com/2682/ https://xkcd.com/2682/
retrac 3y ago
There's no generally accepted theory for the mechanism of action of inhalational anaesthetics like xenon, which induces a deep coma, somehow, despite being almost chemically inert.
- whats_a_quasar 3y ago
  My understanding for Xenon is that it's huge electron shell means that it has an induced dipole in the presence of other dipoles in the body. It then affects receptors with dipole-dipole bonds. I was also confused by Xenon working as an anesthetic, and found it interesting that it can interact with the body without forming chemical bonds. Doesn't work for the lighter noble gasses.