Nobody Knows How Tylenol Works
Posted4 months agoActive4 months ago
scientificamerican.comResearchstory
skepticalmixed
Debate
40/100
PharmaceuticalsMedical ResearchHealth
Key topics
Pharmaceuticals
Medical Research
Health
The article discusses how the exact mechanism of action of Tylenol's active ingredient, acetaminophen, is still unknown, sparking discussion and skepticism among commenters about the article's narrative and potential links to other health issues.
Snapshot generated from the HN discussion
Discussion Activity
Light discussionFirst comment
1h
Peak period
4
0-3h
Avg / period
2.3
Key moments
- 01Story posted
Sep 23, 2025 at 2:22 PM EDT
4 months ago
Step 01 - 02First comment
Sep 23, 2025 at 3:50 PM EDT
1h after posting
Step 02 - 03Peak activity
4 comments in 0-3h
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03 - 04Latest activity
Sep 25, 2025 at 11:33 AM EDT
4 months ago
Step 04
Generating AI Summary...
Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns
ID: 45350884Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 5:39:21 PM
Want the full context?
Jump to the original sources
Read the primary article or dive into the live Hacker News thread when you're ready.
We grew up on Panado (tm) for pain relief - nothing happened to anybody in our family since it was introduced on the market certainly no autism.
There is a correlation about mothers taking acetaminophen leading to Autism. There is also a correlation about mothers drinking water and it leading to Autism.
Doesn't mean its the right connection. Effectively every first world mother in the past few decades has taken acetaminophen whilst pregnant, given its one of the only possible pain medications allowed, yet we don't see 99% Autism rates.
The guy who spawned the whole vaccine's causes autism wasn't actually claiming _all_ vaccines cause autism. It was a commercial endeavor for people to buy his vaccine [1].
Granted, if you notice something is bad (say lead in gasoline) it's pretty worthwhile for you to profit from improving it. But the thing actually needs to be demonstrable bad.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_MMR_autism_fraud