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  • When I was growing up in Montana,

    當我在Montana長大時

  • I had two dreams.

    我有過兩個夢想

  • I wanted to be a paleontologist,

    我想要做一名古生物學家

  • a dinosaur paleontologist,

    一名恐龍古生物學家

  • and I wanted to have a pet dinosaur.

    我還想要一隻恐龍當寵物

  • And so that's what I've been striving for

    所以這就是我在努力

  • all of my life.

    一生的夢想

  • I was very fortunate

    我是非常幸運

  • early in my career.

    在我的早期職業生涯

  • I was fortunate

    我找東西時

  • in finding things.

    很幸運

  • I wasn't very good at reading things.

    我不是很善於閱讀

  • In fact, I don't read much of anything.

    其實,我不讀的東西很多

  • I am extremely dyslexic,

    我是有嚴重的閱讀障礙

  • and so reading is the hardest thing I do.

    所以閱讀時我做的最困難的事

  • But instead, I go out and I find things.

    不過, 我走出家門去找東西

  • Then I just pick things up.

    然後我在地上拾東西

  • I basically practice for finding money on the street.

    我基本上是在練習在地上找錢

  • (Laughter)

    (笑聲)

  • And I wander about the hills,

    我在小山中漫遊

  • and I have found a few things.

    找到了一些東西

  • And I have been fortunate enough

    和我已經夠幸運

  • to find things like the first eggs in the Western hemisphere

    能找到在西半球裡的第一只蛋

  • and the first baby dinosaurs in nests,

    和第一隻恐龍寶寶在巢裡

  • the first dinosaur embryos

    第一個恐龍胚胎

  • and massive accumulations of bones.

    和大量積累的骨頭

  • And it happened to be at a time

    就在當

  • when people were just starting to begin to realize

    人們就開始明白

  • that dinosaurs weren't the big, stupid, green reptiles

    恐龍不是那些人們則麽多年來以為的

  • that people had thought for so many years.

    大,笨,綠色的爬行動物

  • People were starting to get an idea

    人開始得到一個想法

  • that dinosaurs were special.

    恐龍是特別的

  • And so, at that time,

    所以在那時

  • I was able to make some interesting hypotheses

    我和我的同事開始

  • along with my colleagues.

    做一些有趣的假設

  • We were able to actually say

    我們其實可以說

  • that dinosaurs -- based on the evidence we had --

    恐龍-根據我們的證據-

  • that dinosaurs built nests

    恐龍蓋巢

  • and lived in colonies

    住在群里

  • and cared for their young,

    和 照顧他們的幼代

  • brought food to their babies

    帶給他們的寶寶食物

  • and traveled in gigantic herds.

    而在巨大的群裡移動

  • So it was pretty interesting stuff.

    所以這是非常有趣的東西

  • I have gone on to find more things

    我已經在尋找更多的事情

  • and discover that dinosaurs really were very social.

    並發現恐龍真的是很有社會感。

  • We have found a lot of evidence

    我們找到了很多證據

  • that dinosaurs changed

    表示恐龍會變

  • from when they were juveniles to when they were adults.

    從他們幼兒期、青少年時期到成人期

  • The appearance of them would have been different --

    他們的外表會改變

  • which it is in all social animals.

    想在全部的集體動物

  • In social groups of animals,

    在動物的群體中,

  • the juveniles always look different than the adults.

    幼兒一直和成年長的不同

  • The adults can recognize the juveniles;

    大的可以識別的未成年的

  • the juveniles can recognize the adults.

    未成年的可以識別的大的

  • And so we're making a better picture

    所以,我們是在做一個更好的描述

  • of what a dinosaur looks like.

    恐龍是什麼樣子

  • And they didn't just all chase Jeeps around.

    他們不只整天在追逐吉普車

  • (Laughter)

    (笑聲)

  • But it is that social thing

    但是社會的事情

  • that I guess attracted Michael Crichton.

    我想吸引邁克爾克萊頓 (Michael Crichton)

  • And in his book, he talked about the social animals.

    並在他的書中,他談到了社會性的動物

  • And then Steven Spielberg, of course,

    然後史蒂芬斯皮爾伯格(Steven Spielberg),當然

  • depicts these dinosaurs

    描述這些恐龍

  • as being very social creatures.

    作為非常社會的動物

  • The theme of this story is building a dinosaur,

    這個故事的主題是建立一只恐龍

  • and so we come to that part of "Jurassic Park."

    所以我們來的那“侏羅紀公園“的部分

  • Michael Crichton really was one of the first people

    邁克爾克萊頓是一真正的第一個人

  • to talk about bringing dinosaurs back to life.

    談論使恐龍復活

  • You all know the story, right.

    大家都知道這個故事吧

  • I mean, I assume everyone here has seen "Jurassic Park."

    我設想這裡的所有人都看到“侏羅紀公園“。

  • If you want to make a dinosaur,

    如果你想做一只恐龍,

  • you go out, you find yourself a piece of petrified tree sap --

    你出去,你找自己的一塊石化樹液-

  • otherwise known as amber --

    或稱為琥珀-

  • that has some blood-sucking insects in it,

    裡面有一些吸血昆蟲在裡面

  • good ones,

    那些好的

  • and you get your insect and you drill into it

    你會得到你的蟲子,你挖個洞

  • and you suck out some DNA,

    你吸出一些DNA

  • because obviously all insects that sucked blood in those days

    因為很顯然所有的昆蟲都在那些日子裡吸血

  • sucked dinosaur DNA out.

    吸了恐龍的DNA

  • And you take your DNA back to the laboratory

    然後你把你的DNA帶回實驗室

  • and you clone it.

    你利用基因去複製它

  • And I guess you inject it into maybe an ostrich egg,

    我猜你可能把它注入鴕鳥蛋

  • or something like that,

    或類似的東西

  • and then you wait,

    然後你就等

  • and, lo and behold, out pops a little baby dinosaur.

    你瞧,出彈出一個小恐龍寶寶

  • And everybody's happy about that.

    然後每個人都為這個開心

  • (Laughter)

    (笑聲)

  • And they're happy over and over again.

    他們一次又一次的快樂

  • They keep doing it; they just keep making these things.

    他們繼續做下去,他們不停的做這些事

  • And then, then, then, and then ...

    然後,然後,然後,然後 ...

  • Then the dinosaurs, being social,

    然後,恐龍作為社會動物

  • act out their socialness,

    用他們的社會性

  • and they get together,

    他們聚在一起,

  • and they conspire.

    和密謀

  • And, of course, that's what makes Steven Spielberg's movie --

    當然,這是史蒂芬斯皮爾伯格的電影-

  • conspiring dinosaurs chasing people around.

    恐龍追逐人的陰謀

  • So I assume everybody knows

    所以我想大家都知道

  • that if you actually had a piece of amber and it had an insect in it,

    如果你真的有一塊琥珀,裡面有昆蟲,

  • and you drilled into it,

    你鑽了進去

  • and you got something out of that insect,

    你把昆蟲裡拿出一些東西

  • and you cloned it, and you did it over and over and over again,

    你複製它,一遍又一遍又一遍

  • you'd have a room full of mosquitos.

    你就會有一間充滿了蚊子的房間

  • (Laughter)

    (笑聲)

  • (Applause)

    (掌聲)

  • And probably a whole bunch of trees as well.

    以及可能還有一大堆的樹

  • Now if you want dinosaur DNA,

    那麼如果你想要恐龍的DNA,

  • I say go to the dinosaur.

    我說直接去恐龍拿

  • So that's what we've done.

    所以我們就那麼做

  • Back in 1993 when the movie came out,

    早在1993年當電影出來後

  • we actually had a grant from the National Science Foundation

    我們實際有一個由美國國家科學基金會所給的一個計畫

  • to attempt to extract DNA from a dinosaur,

    試圖萃取一個恐龍的DNA

  • and we chose the dinosaur on the left,

    我們選擇了恐龍在左側

  • a Tyrannosaurus rex, which was a very nice specimen.

    一條霸王龍,這是一個非常好的標本

  • And one of my former doctoral students,

    我以前有一位博士生

  • Dr. Mary Schweitzer,

    Mary Schweitzer 博士

  • actually had the background

    實際上有背景

  • to do this sort of thing.

    做這類事情

  • And so she looked into the bone of this T. rex,

    因此,研究過著這個霸王龍骨骼

  • one of the thigh bones,

    其中一個大腿骨

  • and she actually found

    而她居然發現

  • some very interesting structures in there.

    一些非常有趣的結構在裡面

  • They found these red circular-looking objects,

    他們發現,這些紅色的圓形的東西

  • and they looked, for all the world,

    他們找了所有的世界

  • like red blood cells.

    像紅血細胞

  • And they're in

    他們在

  • what appear to be the blood channels

    似乎是血液傳輸的管道

  • that go through the bone.

    經過了骨頭

  • And so she thought, well, what the heck.

    於是她想,好吧,什麼東西

  • So she sampled some material out of it.

    於是,她抽取出它的一些物質

  • Now it wasn't DNA; she didn't find DNA.

    現在不是DNA,她沒有找到的DNA

  • But she did find heme,

    但她發現血紅素

  • which is the biological foundation

    這是生物學基礎

  • of hemoglobin.

    血紅蛋白

  • And that was really cool.

    這真的很酷

  • That was interesting.

    這是有趣的

  • That was -- here we have 65-million-year-old heme.

    這是- 在這裡,我們有六千五百萬歲血紅素

  • Well we tried and tried

    我們試了又試

  • and we couldn't really get anything else out of it.

    我們無法真正得到任何東西

  • So a few years went by,

    幾年過去了

  • and then we started the Hell Creek Project.

    然後我們開始了Hell Creek工程

  • And the Hell Creek Project was this massive undertaking

    Hell Creek工程是個的大工程

  • to get as many dinosaurs as we could possibly find,

    我們希望可以發現可以發現的恐龍

  • and hopefully find some dinosaurs

    希望能找到一些恐龍

  • that had more material in them.

    有更多的東西在裡面

  • And out in eastern Montana

    在Montana的東部

  • there's a lot of space, a lot of badlands,

    有很多的空間,很多荒地

  • and not very many people,

    並沒有住很多人

  • and so you can go out there and find a lot of stuff.

    所以你可以去那裡,找到了很多的東西

  • And we did find a lot of stuff.

    而且,我們也發現了很多的東西

  • We found a lot of Tyrannosaurs,

    我們發現了大量的霸王龍

  • but we found one special Tyrannosaur,

    但我們發現一個特殊霸王龍

  • and we called it B-rex.

    我們把它稱為乙霸王龍

  • And B-rex was found

    乙霸王龍是在

  • under a thousand cubic yards of rock.

    好幾萬噸的岩石下發現

  • It wasn't a very complete T. rex,

    這不是一個很完整的霸王龍

  • and it wasn't a very big T. rex,

    不是一個非常大的暴龍

  • but it was a very special B-rex.

    但它是一個非常特殊的乙霸王龍

  • And I and my colleagues cut into it,

    我和我的同事剪切出來

  • and we were able to determine,

    而我們能夠確定

  • by looking at lines of arrested growth, some lines in it,

    通過查看這隻以霸王龍的一些年齡成長資料,

  • that B-rex had died at the age of 16.

    乙霸王龍活了16年

  • We don't really know how long dinosaurs lived,

    我們真的不知道恐龍的壽命

  • because we haven't found the oldest one yet.

    因為我們沒有發現最老的

  • But this one died at the age of 16.

    但這只16歲死了

  • We gave samples to Mary Schweitzer,

    我們把樣品給了Mary Schweitzer

  • and she was actually able to determine

    她竟然能夠確定

  • that B-rex was a female

    乙霸王龍是母的

  • based on medullary tissue

    基於在骨頭裡面的

  • found on the inside of the bone.

    骨隨組織而判定的

  • Medullary tissue is the calcium build-up,

    骨隨組織是鈣積聚

  • the calcium storage basically,

    基本上被儲存的鈣

  • when an animal is pregnant,

    常常發生在動物懷孕

  • when a bird is pregnant.

    或是鳥類懷孕的過程中堆積而成的

  • So here was the character

    因此,正是這個性質

  • that linked birds and dinosaurs.

    把鳥類和恐龍聯繫起來

  • But Mary went further.

    但Mary做了更進一步研究

  • She took the bone, and she dumped it into acid.

    她把那塊骨頭丟進了酸液中

  • Now we all know that bones are fossilized,

    現在大家都知道這些骨頭都是被石化的

  • and so if you dump it into acid,

    所以,如果你放進酸

  • there shouldn't be anything left.

    不應該有任何東西留著

  • But there was something left.

    但是還有一些沒化掉

  • There were blood vessels left.

    有血管

  • There were flexible, clear blood vessels.

    富有彈性,單純的血管

  • And so here was the first soft tissue from a dinosaur.

    這裡是第一個從恐龍軟組織

  • It was extraordinary.

    這是了不起的

  • But she also found osteocytes,

    她也發現骨細胞

  • which are the cells that laid down the bones.

    就是這些細胞構成了骨頭

  • And try and try, we could not find DNA,

    並努力嘗試,我們無法找到DNA

  • but she did find evidence of proteins.

    但她找到證據的蛋白質

  • But we thought maybe --

    但我們想,也許-

  • well, we thought maybe

    也許

  • that the material was breaking down after it was coming out of the ground.

    這些化石被挖出後會分解

  • We thought maybe it was deteriorating very fast.

    也許這是因為蛋白質劣化的速度非常快

  • And so we built a laboratory

    所以,我們建立了一個實驗室

  • in the back of an 18-wheeler trailer,

    在一部18輪拖車的後面

  • and actually took the laboratory to the field

    把實驗室移駕到野外

  • where we could get better samples.

    在那裡我們可以得到更好的樣本

  • And we did. We got better material.

    我們做到了,我們得到了更好的物質

  • The cells looked better.

    這些細胞看起來更好

  • The vessels looked better.

    血管看起來更好

  • Found the protein collagen.

    然後,膠原蛋白

  • I mean, it was wonderful stuff.

    它是美好的東西

  • But it's not dinosaur DNA.

    但它不是恐龍的DNA

  • So we have discovered

    因此,我們已經發現

  • that dinosaur DNA, and all DNA,

    恐龍的DNA,和所有的DNA

  • just breaks down too fast.

    分解了太快

  • We're just not going to be able

    我們只是不能

  • to do what they did in "Jurassic Park."

    和“侏羅紀公園“情節一樣重建出一隻恐龍

  • We're not going to be able to make a dinosaur

    我們不能夠做恐龍

  • based on a dinosaur.

    從恐龍

  • But birds are dinosaurs.

    但是,鳥類是恐龍

  • Birds are living dinosaurs.

    鳥類是恐龍的活化石

  • We actually classify them

    我們實際上它們分類

  • as dinosaurs.

    作為恐龍

  • We now call them non-avian dinosaurs

    我們現在稱之為非禽類恐龍

  • and avian dinosaurs.

    和禽類恐龍

  • So the non-avian dinosaurs

    因此,非禽類恐龍

  • are the big clunky ones that went extinct.

    是那些笨重的,現在滅絕了

  • Avian dinosaurs are our modern birds.

    禽類的恐龍我們的現代的鳥

  • So we don't have to make a dinosaur

    所以,我們不需要作出恐龍

  • because we already have them.

    因為我們已經有他們

  • (Laughter)

    (笑聲)

  • I know, you're as bad as the sixth-graders.

    我知道,你們和六年級學生一樣糟糕

  • (Laughter)

    (笑聲)

  • The sixth-graders look at it and they say, "No."

    六年級學生看它時,他們說“不”

  • (Laughter)

    (笑聲)

  • "You can call it a dinosaur,

    ”你可以把它叫做恐龍

  • but look at the velociraptor: the velociraptor is cool."

    但看看迅猛龍:那才是真的酷。“

  • (Laughter)

    (笑聲)

  • "The chicken is not."

    “雞是沒有“

  • (Laughter)

    (笑聲)

  • So this is our problem,

    因此,這是我們的問題

  • as you can imagine.

    你可以想像

  • The chicken is a dinosaur.

    雞是個恐龍

  • I mean it really is.

    真的

  • You can't argue with it

    確實是

  • because we're the classifiers and we've classified it that way.

    因為我們的分類,我們已經歸類這種方式

  • (Laughter)

    (笑聲)

  • (Applause)

    (掌聲)

  • But the sixth-graders demand it.

    但是,六年級學生要求其

  • "Fix the chicken."

    “修正雞。“

  • (Laughter)

    (笑聲)

  • So that's what I'm here to tell you about:

    所以這就是我在這裡要告訴你的:

  • how we are going to fix a chicken.

    我們將如何改造雞

  • So we have a number of ways

    我們有很多的方法

  • that we actually can fix the chicken.

    讓我們改造一支雞

  • Because evolution works,

    因為進化

  • we actually have some evolutionary tools.

    我們其實有一些因進化產生的工具

  • We'll call them biological modification tools.

    我們會叫他們"生物修改工具"

  • We have selection.

    我們已經有選擇

  • And we know selection works.

    而且我們知道選擇的工作方式

  • We started out with a wolf-like creature

    我們開始了一個狼一樣的動物

  • and we ended up with a Maltese.

    最後我們得到了馬爾濟斯(狗)。

  • I mean, that's --

    那是

  • that's definitely genetic modification.

    這絕對是基因改造

  • Or any of the other funny-looking little dogs.

    或任何其他有趣的小狗

  • We also have transgenesis.

    我們也有轉基因

  • Transgenesis is really cool too.

    轉基因真的很酷

  • That's where you take a gene out of one animal and stick it in another one.

    這就是你帶出一個基因從動物然後貼在另外一個

  • That's how people make GloFish.

    這就是人們是如何做出螢光魚

  • You take a glow gene

    你從珊瑚或水母

  • out of a coral or a jellyfish

    拿出一個發光基因

  • and you stick it in a zebrafish,

    和你把它加進斑馬魚

  • and, puff, they glow.

    讓他們發光起來

  • And that's pretty cool.

    這很酷

  • And they obviously make a lot of money off of them.

    他們顯然賺了許多錢

  • And now they're making Glow-rabbits

    現在,他們正在做發光兔

  • and Glow-all-sorts-of-things.

    而發光的各種事物

  • I guess we could make a glow chicken.

    我想我們可以做一個發光雞

  • (Laughter)

    (笑聲)

  • But I don't think that'll satisfy the sixth-graders either.

    但我不認為會滿足六年級學生

  • But there's another thing.

    還有

  • There's what we call atavism activation.

    還有就是我們所說的隔代遺傳

  • And atavism activation

    隔代遺傳

  • is basically --

    基本上是-

  • an atavism is an ancestral characteristic.

    隔代遺傳的現象是一個祖先的特徵

  • You've heard

    你也許有聽說

  • that occasionally children are born with tails,

    偶爾孩子出生時有尾巴

  • and it's because it's an ancestral characteristic.

    它是因為它的一個祖先的特徵

  • And so there are a number of atavisms

    有一些隔代遺傳的現象

  • that can happen.

    有可能會發生

  • Snakes are occasionally born with legs.

    蛇是有腳偶爾出生

  • And here's an example.

    而這裡的一個例子

  • This is a chicken with teeth.

    這是有牙齒的雞

  • A fellow by the name of Matthew Harris

    一位叫Matthew Harris的研究人員

  • at the University of Wisconsin in Madison

    在威斯康星大學麥迪遜

  • actually figured out a way to stimulate

    其實想出了一個辦法來刺激

  • the gene for teeth,

    牙齒的基因

  • and so was able to actually turn the tooth gene on

    因此她能夠活化牙齒基因

  • and produce teeth in chickens.

    並產生有牙的雞

  • Now that's a good characteristic.

    這是一個好的特點

  • We can save that one.

    我們可以留那個

  • We know we can use that.

    我們知道我們可以用它

  • We can make a chicken with teeth.

    我們可以創造一隻有牙齒的雞

  • That's getting closer.

    這離我們的目標越來越近

  • That's better than a glowing chicken.

    比發光的雞還好

  • (Laughter)

    (笑聲)

  • A friend of mine, a colleague of mine,

    我的一個朋友, 一位同事

  • Dr. Hans Larsson at McGill University,

    Hans Larsson 博士在 McGill 大學

  • is actually looking at atavisms.

    其實是看隔代遺傳的現象

  • And he's looking at them

    他在看他們

  • by looking at the embryo genesis of birds

    通過觀察鳥類的胚胎起源

  • and actually looking at how they develop,

    和實際看他們如何發展

  • and he's interested in how birds actually lost their tail.

    他的興趣在如何鳥類失去了他們的尾巴

  • He's also interested in the transformation

    他也對改造有興趣

  • of the arm, the hand, to the wing.

    胳膊,手,在羽翼上

  • He's looking for those genes as well.

    他在尋找這些基因

  • And I said, "Well, if you can find those,

    我告訴他“如果你能找到

  • I can just reverse them

    我可以改造一番

  • and make what I need to make for the sixth-graders."

    做我需要給六年級學生做的”

  • And so he agreed.

    所以他答應了

  • And so that's what we're looking into.

    這就是我們正在研究

  • If you look at dinosaur hands,

    如果你看恐龍的手

  • a velociraptor

    一個迅猛龍

  • has that cool-looking hand with the claws on it.

    長的酷的手與它的爪子

  • Archaeopteryx, which is a bird, a primitive bird,

    始祖鳥,這是一種鳥,一種原始的鳥

  • still has that very primitive hand.

    還有原始的手

  • But as you can see, the pigeon,

    但你可以看到,鴿子

  • or a chicken or anything else, another bird,

    或雞或另外一隻鳥

  • has kind of a weird-looking hand,

    有一個奇怪模樣的手

  • because the hand is a wing.

    因為手是翼

  • But the cool thing is

    但是酷的是

  • that, if you look in the embryo,

    如果你看在胚胎

  • as the embryo is developing

    發展中的胚胎

  • the hand actually looks

    手其實看上去

  • pretty much like the archaeopteryx hand.

    幾乎像始祖鳥手

  • It has the three fingers, the three digits.

    它有三個手指

  • But a gene turns on that actually fuses those together.

    一個基因其實這些融合在一起

  • And so what we're looking for is that gene.

    我們就在找那個基因

  • We want to stop that gene from turning on,

    我們要阻止這種基因從隱性變成顯性

  • fusing those hands together,

    把手融合在一起

  • so we can get a chicken that hatches out with a three-fingered hand,

    所以我們可以得到一個雞孵化出一個三指手

  • like the archaeopteryx.

    像始祖鳥

  • And the same goes for the tails.

    而且尾巴也一樣

  • Birds have basically

    鳥類基本上有

  • rudimentary tails.

    很原始的尾巴

  • And so we know

    所以我們知道

  • that in embryo,

    在胚胎

  • as the animal is developing,

    動物在發展

  • it actually has a relatively long tail.

    它實際上有一個相對長的尾巴

  • But a gene turns on

    但當一個基因開啟

  • and resorbs the tail, gets rid of it.

    就漸漸擺脫尾巴

  • So that's the other gene we're looking for.

    所以這是我們正在尋找其他的基因

  • We want to stop that tail from resorbing.

    我們要制止這種尾巴

  • So what we're trying to do really

    我們正在嘗試

  • is take our chicken,

    拿雞

  • modify it

    改造一番

  • and make the chickenosaurus.

    做一隻“Chickenosaurus" (”雞龍“)

  • (Laughter)

    (笑聲)

  • It's a cooler-looking chicken.

    這是一只更酷的雞

  • But it's just the very basics.

    這僅僅是最基礎的

  • So that really is what we're doing.

    這確實是我們正在做的事情

  • And people always say, "Why do that?

    人們一直問 "為什麼做那?

  • Why make this thing?

    為什麼做這個東西?

  • What good is it?"

    它有什麼好?“

  • Well, that's a good question.

    嗯,這是一個很好的問題

  • Actually, I think it's a great way to teach kids

    其實,關於進化生物學

  • about evolutionary biology

    我覺得這是一個不錯的方式來教孩子

  • and developmental biology

    與發育生物學

  • and all sorts of things.

    和所有各式各樣的東西

  • And quite frankly, I think

    很坦率地說,我覺得

  • if Colonel Sanders

    如果肯德基老公公

  • was to be careful how he worded it,

    小心的做廣告

  • he could actually advertise an extra piece.

    他其實可以多賣一塊雞肉

  • (Laughter)

    (笑聲)

  • Anyway --

    無論如何

  • When our dino-chicken hatches,

    當我們的恐龍雞孵化

  • it will be, obviously, the poster child,

    它會是, 很明顯, 代表人物

  • or what you might call a poster chick,

    或者 你有可能叫它代表雞

  • for technology, entertainment and design.

    給 科技, 娛樂, 和設計(TED)

  • Thank you.

    謝謝

  • (Applause)

    (掌聲)

When I was growing up in Montana,

當我在Montana長大時

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