Scientists reverse brain aging, with a nasal spray
184 points
4 hours ago
| 14 comments
| stories.tamu.edu
| HN
gavinray
3 hours ago
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"Reverse brain aging", sure, in the same sense that taking Vitamin C reverses aging.

The nasal spray reduced markers of inflammation in hippocampal microglial cells.

A lot of things reduce inflammation. That is not "reversing ageing".

Of course, "reduces inflammation" doesn't headline very well...

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roncesvalles
59 minutes ago
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There is a pop theory that aging is just scurvy in slow motion and Vitamin C hypersupplementation actually goes a long way in staving it off.
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Aurornis
1 hour ago
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This is the current big grift in anti-aging science:

1 - Find a marker correlated with aging across a large sample

2 - Find a medication or supplement that also alters that marker

3 - Do some before and after measurements of the marker with the supplement or medication, and claim that you have reversed aging. Rely on the fact that enough readers won’t look closely enough to wonder if the marker is a true independent variable that represents aging.

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mawadev
3 hours ago
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The article is also heavily ai generated, I call bs on every single bit
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bigmattystyles
3 hours ago
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I thought the url said temu at first.
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RyanOD
1 hour ago
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Hah! Me too.
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rylando
3 hours ago
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Kinda surprised A&M’s letting them use AI to write these things
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dwa3592
3 hours ago
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>>The article is also heavily ai generated

can you please share your methodology for detecting ai please?

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TonyAlicea10
2 hours ago
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“The most surprising part? It all happened within weeks and lasted for months.”

That’s an AI tell. It may not be entirely LLM-generated, the various direct quotations help a lot, but there are touches that definitely feel like an LLM had a hand here.

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ShinyLeftPad
1 hour ago
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That's not an "AI tell". If you read anything in recent decades, this is a turn of speech human writers wrote for ages and still write.
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andregr
1 hour ago
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"It's not just x, it's y." Absolutely clear tell, especially at this frequency. Examples from the article below:

"Over decades, it doesn’t just wear down, it also starts to run hot." "... the therapy didn’t just clear brain fog, it physically improved the brain’s ability to process and store information."

The quotes as well: "'... Not just living longer, but living smarter and healthier,' Shetty said." "'We aren’t just trying to understand the biological mechanisms, we are translating and developing our findings into real-world therapies that could make a difference,' Shetty said."

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ShinyLeftPad
1 hour ago
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What that is is a tell of bad writing
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andregr
1 hour ago
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It's a tell of not writing. It is extremely well-documented as a tell of AI writing.
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rfrey
1 hour ago
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Anybody who still writes using their own mind has stopped using that pattern, along with others. "The thing nobody tells you:" is no longer used by decent writers.
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ShinyLeftPad
43 minutes ago
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Yeah, like nobody uses em dashes anymore right?
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rfrey
5 minutes ago
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I know lots of writers who have (reluctantly) stopped using em-dashes. Many replaced them with colons, and are now wondering what they will replace colons with.
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damontal
1 hour ago
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It’s a tell now. I see it I assume AI and disregard.
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asdf88990
2 hours ago
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Vibes. It is in the vibes.
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anonym29
2 hours ago
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Just a heads up, you're firmly in Poe's Law territory.
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hyperhello
2 hours ago
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Poe’s Law is the very essence of AI.
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dwa3592
3 hours ago
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c'mon you guys, chill. this is not a vaccine.
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scrubs
2 hours ago
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AI generated? Not demonstrated.

Whining by humans claiming AI? Predictable. Probable. Indeed LLM "complete the sentence" predictable.

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fwip
59 minutes ago
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Sure, a human could be deliberately trying to sound like AI writing, or perhaps they've spent so much time reading it that they think it's normal.
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fragmede
2 hours ago
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Tell that to Bryan Johnson.
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jordanboxer
1 hour ago
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Sure let’s listen to someone with extreme anxiety about the most utterly democratic humane experience
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Yiin
56 minutes ago
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Not all "utterly democratic humane experiences" are desired, so why not.
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jquery
39 minutes ago
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Why not have crippling anxiety? It shortens your lifespan for one.
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SubiculumCode
3 hours ago
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High impact journal for an interesting study that is admittedly largely out of my area of expertise. The limitation of it being done in animal models, is of course, noted, but also expected. The question I would ask is how well the underlying background research makes this outcome expected.
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jskeicjwkxjwkd
2 hours ago
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Damn, that’s one hell of a way to say “is this any good though?”. Too many words for such a simple question.
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SubiculumCode
2 hours ago
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Pretty much, lol. I started to say some other things but decided to say less.
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Brian_K_White
1 hour ago
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But "how well the underlying background research makes this outcome expected" does not mean "is this any good though".

It's also an actually interesting question.

It's one thing to find some things hard to follow, it's another to be proud of it.

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earth-tattoo
3 hours ago
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That's exactly what I want: immortal mice!
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dlcarrier
3 hours ago
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You joke, but rodents make great pets, because they are very social and have a range of personalities, but most only live a few years. I knew someone with a pet retired lab rat, and it lived much longer than the average fancy rat, but even then, it didn't even live half as long as the average cat or dog.

If we could breed or treat rodents to live longer, we could keep low-resource pets without as much loss.

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magpi3
1 hour ago
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There is an excellent "This American Life" episode on rats. The first act is about a guy who keeps rats as pets. It's a sweet story.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/801/transcript

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ghurtado
3 hours ago
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That's a surprisingly underused plot for a sci Fi horror film.

Considering the grand total of experiments we've ran on the little guys, I'm kinda surprised we haven't bred Mousezilla yet

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bitwize
2 hours ago
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Or Pinky & the Brain
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topgrain2
2 hours ago
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The Secret of NIMH
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bookofjoe
2 hours ago
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See also: “Flowers for Algernon”
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block_dagger
3 hours ago
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Flowers for Algernon’s Brain
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wingmanjd
2 hours ago
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This short story was scarier to me as a kid than anything else I read at the time.
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bookofjoe
2 hours ago
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The movie adaptation — “Charlie” — is heartbreakingly good.
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jb1991
29 minutes ago
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This one? Not called “Charlie” https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210044/
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catlifeonmars
3 hours ago
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TFA reeks of over-sensationalizing. Here is a summary sans hyperbole:

Intranasal Human NSC-Derived EVs Therapy Can Restrain Inflammatory Microglial Transcriptome, and NLRP3 and cGAS-STING Signalling, in Aged Hippocampus[1].

Abstract:

> Neuroinflammaging, a moderate, chronic, and sterile inflammation in the hippocampus, contributes to age-related cognitive decline. Neuroinflammaging comprises the activation of the nucleotide-binding domain, leucine-rich repeat family, and pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasomes, and the cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS)-stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway that triggers type 1 interferon (IFN-1) signalling. Studies have shown that extracellular vesicles from human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural stem cells (hiPSC-NSC-EVs) contain therapeutic miRNAs that can alleviate neuroinflammation. Therefore, this study examined the effects of late middle-aged (18-month-old) male and female C57BL6/J mice receiving two intranasal doses of hiPSC-NSC-EVs on neuroinflammaging in the hippocampus at 20.5 months of age. Compared with animals receiving vehicle treatment, the hippocampus of animals receiving hiPSC-NSC-EVs exhibited reductions in astrocyte hypertrophy, microglial clusters, and oxidative stress, along with elevated expression of antioxidant proteins and genes that maintain mitochondrial respiratory chain integrity. Moreover, hiPSC-NSC-EVs therapy decreased the levels of various proteins involved in the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, p38/mitogen-activated protein kinase, cGAS-STING-IFN-1, and Janus kinase and signal transducer and activator of transcription signalling pathways. Furthermore, in vitro assays using genetically engineered RAW cells and hiPSC-NSC-EVs, with or without targeted depletion of specific miRNAs, demonstrated that miRNA-30e-3p and miRNA-181a-5p, both present in hiPSC-NSC-EVs, can significantly inhibit the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and the STING pathway, respectively. Additionally, single-cell RNA sequencing conducted 7 days post-treatment revealed that hiPSC-NSC-EVs induce widespread transcriptomic changes in microglia, including increased expression of numerous genes that enhance oxidative phosphorylation and reduced expression of abundant genes that drive multiple proinflammatory signalling pathways. These changes mediated by hiPSC-NSC-EVs were also associated with improved cognitive and memory function. Thus, intranasal hiPSC-NSC-EVs therapy in late middle age can effectively diminish proinflammatory microglial transcriptome and signalling cascades that drive neuroinflammaging in the hippocampus, contributing to better brain function in old age.

[1]: https://isevjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jev...

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timmg
3 hours ago
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How soon until biohackers try this on themselves?
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hoppp
3 hours ago
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I take N-acetylcysteine and it helps with brain fog also! Plus it reduces stress and irritability.
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ai_fry_ur_brain
2 hours ago
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And OCD symptoms, and many also benefit from better impulse control. Its more effective than SSRIs for some.

NAC is one of the only known treatments for trichotillomania, a under discussed but common condition that causes people to uncontrollably pull their hair out.

NAC has also been studied to reduce nicotine and alchohol cravings as well.

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tmoertel
1 hour ago
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Are there any risks associated with NAC supplementation? For example, could long-term usage reduce aptosis and thereby increase risks of developing cancer?
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mbil
1 hour ago
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Some mixed cancer associations in animal models
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aurareturn
1 hour ago
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What is your dosage?
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ChrisArchitect
1 hour ago
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Story from April;

Some previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48288478

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general_reveal
3 hours ago
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When can I snort this?
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hoppp
3 hours ago
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Prepare a line for me also please
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tryagainian
2 hours ago
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Grab me a bag while your there.
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grg0
1 hour ago
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I knew cocaine had to have an upside.
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Alien1Being
51 minutes ago
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Temu science at Tamu.

I have an AI generated bridge that I can sell you...

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amingilani
4 hours ago
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...in mice.

> Therefore, this study examined the effects of late middle-aged (18-month-old) male and female C57BL6/J mice receiving two intranasal doses of hiPSC-NSC-EVs on neuroinflammaging in the hippocampus at 20.5 months of age.

https://isevjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jev...

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switchbak
3 hours ago
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That PR piece was brutal to navigate. Undoubtedly punched up by AI, it took far too long to even understand what the treatment entailed.
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doginasuit
3 hours ago
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To be fair though, I think we owe the mice a positive research outcome.
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antonvs
3 hours ago
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“Congratulations, you get improved brain function while we continue to run other experiments on you!”
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ghurtado
3 hours ago
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You can now experience both physical pain and existential dread!
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tryagainian
2 hours ago
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On the plus side, expect to see great works of literature authored by rodents.
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earthnail
3 hours ago
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“There will be cake!”
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SubiculumCode
3 hours ago
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The link to the actual paper was appreciated. The context of whether findings will generalize outside of mouse models can depend a lot on specifics of the problem.
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Joel_Mckay
2 hours ago
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Many Brain-aging study sample pools are from young folks that died in accidents, aged homeless alcoholics, and individuals that were in declining health.

Most cultures find it taboo to donate their beloved family members bodies for scientific dissection. Thus, people get ingrained "[bigotry] with extra steps" similar to phrenology proponents.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson%27s_paradox

"Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance" =3

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fuckinpuppers
3 hours ago
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Mice get all the cool shit first
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jjtheblunt
3 hours ago
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they get all the worst and most inane tortures too
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secretslol
3 hours ago
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I even seen a mouse on youtube with it's own tiny EV sports car driving about!
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dlcarrier
3 hours ago
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I read a book about a mouse with a motorcycle (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/232109.The_Mouse_and_...) and a different book about a mouse-like child with sailboat. (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/138959.Stuart_Little).

M. Night Shyamalan wrote a screenplay about the latter book, and it was made into a popular movie.

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tryagainian
2 hours ago
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This one?

https://youtube.com/shorts/E74r-ybeQfE

Someone needs to put an octopus in a mini vehicle.

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hoppp
3 hours ago
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Then they get murdered...
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keepamovin
3 hours ago
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Ugh, I thought we were done with the Boomers....looks like they're gonna hang on.
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