Sue Nelson
@ScienceNelson
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Science journalist Boffin Media. Wrote @WallyFunksSpace Host @SpaceBoffins Former BBC science correspondent. Pro science/sci-fi/feminism. Late ASC. Views own.
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Joined November 2008
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Ok. It’s out there. Yes. I am that old. Autism: I was diagnosed at 60 - BBC Future
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A male academic publicly denigrates a woman’s academic achievement by tweeting to his ~23k followers the ‘typos’ in her dissertation - most of which are non-use of hyphens - often dictated by style guides anyway. This is so unbelievably pedantic, petty and pathetic.
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I love the fact that William Shatner is emotional and has gone into full Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds mode explaining how he feels after his Blue Origin flight. He’s right of course. The Earth’s atmosphere is fragile. Space travel is extraordinary.
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I’m on the verge of (happy) tears. Just phoned Wally Funk and apparently I’m the first to publicly congratulate her - “oh have they told everybody? I thought it’d be next week!” She can’t wait, has a window seat and is doing her exercises. “I’ve been waiting a lifetime, honey...”
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I can’t quite believe this. A science reporter for a national newspaper telling a woman who believes in biological sex that doing so is akin to being a Nazi. This is outrageous.
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Just discovered you can track gritters in Scotland and - even better - they have names like Gritney Spears, Spready Mercury and Licence to Chill... ❄️
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And I will add that as editor of The Biologist magazine for five years (I put the first woman on its cover), I do have experience of choosing covers and pull out quotes. The Lancet is making a political statement.
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I have mixed feelings about today. I’m a massive Star Trek fan (first crush Captain Kirk) but William Shatner is about break my friend Wally Funk’s short lived record later as the oldest person in space. I’ll just hold onto the memory that she did it. She actually did it! 😉
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57 years ago today Valentina Tereshkova became the world’s first woman to fly in space onboard the spacecraft Vostok 6. The cosmonaut made 48 orbits in 71 hours.
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During a student holiday, working a late bar shift, I was cleaning ash trays & trying to get a group of men to leave the pub. They were trying to remember the Heisenberg uncertainty equation & promised to leave if the ‘barmaid’ knew it. Everyone laughed. They left a minute later.
Is this one of the most famous equations in physics?
The Schrödinger equation is a cornerstone of quantum physics - the analogue of Newton's law for quantum mechanics. Its derivation led to Schrödinger, born on this day, receiving the 1933
#NobelPrize
in Physics.
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🧵After a day wearing headphones audio editing yesterday, I’ve only just seen The Lancet’s tweet proudly showing its cover consisting of a quote referring to women as ‘bodies with vaginas’…
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Well that is shocking. Operation Cygnus was an exercise just a few years ago that involved the NHS and government to test out a response to a pandemic. It highlighted what failed and offered lessons learned. No wonder we are in a such a mess.
On
#ExerciseCygnus
Dominic Raab was asked tonight
“have you personally read it & has it been made available to all your key scientific advisers?”
Raab replied “it’s not something that immediately springs to mind”
In view of the importance of this report a shocking reply
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‘Girls like space too’
Little girl writes letter begging shop to make Nasa clothing for girls -
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So the editor’s choice quote for the cover is deliberately provocative (no, I don’t like it either). Because it doesn’t reflect the full article - which doesn’t ignore the reality of biological sex throughout. So it’s clickbait, gender ideology virtue signalling, or both.
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The Doctor Who Helped Defeat Smallpox Explains What's Coming | WIRED
Matter of fact, pulls no punches, yet strangely reassuring.
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Recorded interview for
@BBCRadio4
programme in
@bengoldacre
office today. His ‘to do’ list spoke to me...
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Countdown almost over! One day to go until launch and then Wally Funk goes into space. I filmed this a few years ago, 2016 I think. I asked her to say a few words about the Mercury 13 - after we had just visited NASA and were about to go inside Space Center Houston...
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The news is so depressing I'm going to share this. My son gifted me a LEGO Viper (from Battlestar Gallactica) that he designed and made himself with retractable landing gear and me as pilot and it bloody rocks.
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What bothers me is that so many national science and health reporters and correspondents - other than a selected few like
@deb_cohen
@hannahsbee
- absented themselves from one of the biggest medical science stories in decades. Something to discuss at the upcoming AGM
@absw
?
When I first started writing about gender identity and transition, I really struggled to accept that the child transition stuff could be as bad as it seemed. Surely clinicians weren't using experimental treatments without monitoring the outcomes! (They were.)
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When a stillbirth and neonatal charity feels unable to write the word ‘mother’ we have a problem. Writing ‘mother or birthing parent’ is inclusive. This is unnecessary erasure.
Often the focus of support and comfort is on the birthing parent, which can leave partners or non-birthing parents feeling isolated and alone.
Sands is here for you 💙🧡
👉
#BLAW2020
#YouAreNotAlone
#SandsHereToSupport
#BabyLoss
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So... the UK has rewarded an entitled rich white man who is a proven liar, prone to sexist and racist remarks, verbal incontinence, laziness and ‘gaffes’ that put lives at risk. Remind you of anyone? Buckle up. Resistance yes but add kindness and help others. Hope.
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Women and space alert 🚀 I've made a programme about the seamstresses to the stars - from the women who sewed Neil Armstrong's spacesuit, Skylab's heatshield and the Shuttle's thermal blankets to sewing on missions today. Broadcast tomorrow....
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Astonishing to hear from
@joannaccherry
about the death threats and smears for herself and other women in public life for speaking out about sex based rights and how Twitter silences women
#WomensLib2020
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@jesswade
@unamccormack
@Wikipedia
And going by those time codes the editor is an unbelievably fast speed reader and fact checker too... <sarcasm font>
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Born on this day 1937 - the first woman in space - cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. Kept an engineer’s mistake, that would have killed her if she’d carried the manoeuvre out in orbit, secret for over 30 years. Amazing woman. Wally Funk has met her twice. Naturally ;)
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It’s a particularly bizarre quote from a medical journal considering, just a few days ago, it recently knew the sex of ‘bodies’ with prostate cancer. So let’s look at where that cover quote is from…
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I don’t know who did this Twilight Zone William Shatner update but I love it.
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I absolutely love this - the
@AstroSamantha
doll is sadly not commercially available but it should be. Note - she's wearing a spacesuit that fits...
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T-2 days until launch….
Wally Funk and I inside the (pre restoration) Apollo mission control room. If history had been kinder, one of the Mercury 13 could have been the first woman on the Moon. On Tuesday
@WallyFunksSpace
is fulfilled and aged 82 (sssh) Wally makes history.❤️
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Modern beauty icon? I think you mean smart politician, attorney, Vice President elect and role model.
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Finally - my
@WallyFunksSpace
book is out! I hope you enjoy reading about the wonderful Wally Funk, a history of women in space and our Thelma and Louise style road trips. Without the cliff jump...
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Reason number 423 why so many women prefer single sex spaces.... <sigh>
Police officer "tried to film colleague showering" in their force headquarters unisex changing rooms
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If you think US voter fraud isn't a significant issue, read this thread.
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Kudos to Jeanette Epps. An aerospace engineer who graduated as a NASA astronaut in 2011 and has just gone into space for the first time aged 53 on a long duration mission to the International Space Station.
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Meghan’s impact on these kids is amazing. Inspiring, smart, eloquent. What a loss for the UK.
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@DrMLivingstone
@BBCWomansHour
@HadleyFreeman
@Emmabarnett
But if the outlet that pays you to write refuses to allow you to write on certain subjects, even though it’s within your remit, isn’t that a form of censorship?
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@DrJaninaRamirez
@ChrisFarrelly
I’ve been told I’m ‘too much’ all my life. As has my good friend
@debijonestv
When someone said this to her at a dinner party in Liverpool her then boyfriend responded immediately with: “It’s called a personality.”
Reader, she married him.
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I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Transcript courtesy of
@Wommando
between
@MForstater
(MF) and the Counsel for respondents Olivia Dobbie (OD) on day 5 of the tribunal.
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Despite husband wanting to get the mower out, I’ve stood firm for
#NoMowMay
! So plenty of
#lawnflowers
for the
#wildflowerhour
challenge: violets, common fumitory, carpet bugle, forget-me-nots, daisies, cuckoo-pint, dove’s foot crane’s bill, groundsel & lots of dandelions!
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In a cab the other day and the driver said: ‘I don’t mean to be rude but have there been any women in space?’
After a brief summary - first woman up in 1963 and over 60 women since - I added that there were two women in space right now.
‘Cool,’ he said.
Exactly 😉
Enjoying my last weeks on
@Space_Station
! Taking short breaks between all the activities onboard to soak up the views of our beautiful planet. Medical testing and packing to prepare for departure have been keeping us busy. What would you do if you had two weeks in space?
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My latest
@bbcworldservice
radio doc with Wally Funk. It covers private & public plans to reach the lunar surface and the inevitable outcome
#FirstWomanOnTheMoon
with
@esa
DG
@janwoerner
@AstroSamantha
@flatoday_jdean
@Bob_Richards
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Dec 1st. Inspired by
@theAliceRoberts
spotting mostly male science authors in bestseller lists, I’m doing a book advent calendar thread daily until Xmas to highlight women writers on STEM subjects/history (including space of course). Starting with a classic by Rachel Carson.
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I do follow Carl but haven’t seen his tweets for ages - only after someone I follow retweeted it. Make Carl less sad… 🙂
I'm sad. 😔
I get so many followers saying that they don't see my tweets anymore..😔
Can you please do me a favour?
If you follow me and you see this tweet, can you please retweet it.🙏
To make it more worth sharing, here's one of my fave pics, Kingfisher in berries. 😊🐦
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Tomorrow at 8pm on
@BBCRadio4
check out my new radio programme Trust Me I’m a Scientist - presented by
@RichardDawkins
- on science, society, evidence, anecdote & trust.
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@ben_bt
Several of your statements did deny biological reality. Gender and sex are different. Maintaining single sex protections for women and girls is hugely important. You denied a feminist's voice by signing that letter against Suzanne Moore.
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“LGBT rights campaigners have criticised World Rugby's decision to prevent biological men from competing at the highest levels of the women's game.”
Point of view is always important.
LGBT rights campaigners have criticised World Rugby's decision to prevent transgender women from competing at the highest levels of the women's game.
More:
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Ok. I’ve just wasted a lot of time reading about former actors now out of the limelight but it was worth it to discover that the terrifying twin girls from The Shining became a lawyer and a research scientist!
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As a woman who studied physics, all I can say is “bollocks”.
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Saw this retweeted article from Nov 2026 by the excellent
@sarahkendzior
and it still packs a bitter punch
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This is amazing. Wally Funk is finally going into space!!!! I'm so happy for her.
Jeff Bezos announces on Instagram that the fourth passenger on Blue Origin's first crewed New Shepard flight will be Wally Funk, one of the women of the Mercury program:
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Inspirational video where girls get to meet Europe’s only female astronaut - the magnificent
@AstroSamantha
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When sci-fi & anti-fascist sentiment collide. Enjoying responses to
@nkjemisin
#AntiFascistSFF
From The Doctor to General Adama.
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Sad to hear that Sarah Ratley - a member of the Mercury 13 - died recently. That’s her in the helmet. Met her in 1997. Smart, gentle, kind. Emailed me out of the blue last year as had read
@WallyFunksSpace
and was lovely. Maths graduate, pilot, engineer, almost an astronaut. RIP.
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Guess what? I’ve put in the proposal for a
@LEGOIdeas
Mercury 13 minifigures set! Should hear next week if idea will be accepted for voting but am so excited. Here’s a sneak preview of one of the vignettes and minifigures... Yes, it’s Wally Funk... Are you with me?
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Yesterday we found a Xmas pudding at the back of a cupboard so today is not
#EasterMonday
but Boxing Day. Diet starts in the new year... 😉
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I’ve always admired Andy Murray - not just his tennis, but because he always corrected journalists who discounted female players’ achievements and publicly supports women. A man unafraid to hold back tears when his career may be over.
A tearful Andy Murray reveals that next week's Australian Open could be his last tournament before injury forces him to retire
[Tap to expand]
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So here it is. Quite a contrast to that dirty plain wall. And what I like most is that you can see the double moon system from the dining room table and the kitchen so it feels like I’m on an alien world. Which is how it feels like now with a pandemic too.
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The article is about a new exhibition from London’s Vagina museum. Thankfully someone posted it so we can read the quote in context.
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Just spoken to Wally Funk. She’s isolating, perky as usual, driving a tractor, taking walks by the lake and flying her plane. What a woman.
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The second disembodied reference to women or girls is ‘bodies with vaginas’ - the cover quote and is by the author of the review, also a woman. But note - it’s from a para where the word women does appear.
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Since the science reporter has now protected his tweets, most people can’t read it now but I had got screenshots of the woman’s tweet and his response - just not the whole thread.
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If only he’d booked an advance ticket instead of turning up on the day.
Every time Prince Charles uses the royal train it costs £20,000 - here are other key figures from the latest royal accounts
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This is insulting on so many levels. I've travelled a lot recently around the US and Europe and, everywhere I've gone, people have expressed dismay and confusion at both Brexit and our response to it. This disgraceful image just sums it all up.
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The first instance of a using a word to replace women or girls is found within a quote from the Vagina Museum’s director. We get ‘body’ instead. The director is a woman with a science background who also describes herself as a scicommer and comedian on her website.
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That’s booed in England, Scotland and Wales. Over to you Ireland.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is booed by protestors as he arrives in Cardiff Bay to meet with the First Minister Mark Drakeford
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This is totally unfair for the women competing. Today’s news also reports that police forces are allowing rapists to record their gender as female if that’s how they self identify. Are women having a say in all this?
Rachel McKinnon, the cyclist who has become a reluctant “poster girl” for transgender athletes, has successfully defended her world title in Manchester
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Yes that is Apollo astronaut Charlie Duke and yes, I am wearing a dress with the Apollo blueprints on it….
#AstronautAwards
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I’ve not shared this on Twitter yet so here goes.... It’s a tale of art, space and preventing lockdown madness. Because while lucky enough to still have work and health, the pandemic has caused anxiety induced insomnia. I know I’m not alone in that. So... this is my patio wall.
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Now that Wally Funk is in the news and finally going into space - if you've not voted for this Lego Mercury 13 kit to be made honouring the programme, please do so. I have only 24 more days to reach 1000 votes for the next stage!
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Elated by the news about
#WallyFunk
and
@JeffBezos
going to space. Huge thanks again to
@SaqiBooks
&
@ChiReviewPress
in the US for publishing
@WallyFunksSpace
helping to bring Wally’s incredible story to a wider audience. It wasn’t easy. Now the world knows her name.
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What a fab
#SpaceRocks
experience. Lovely to work alongside
@dallascampbell
@Mi55Tipper
@jasonsfolly
@SuzieImberSpace
et al & catch up with
@mggtTaylor
@astro_timpeake
and
@jojo_durrant
Nice one
@esa
@spacerockslive
@markmccaughrean
👏🏻
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Ok, I’m thrilled that most space/science museum shops now include books on women’s history and products for girls, so could we address this obsession with pink please?!
PS Regreting not buying the Katharine Johnson doll...
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The piece begins by referring to a few recent books (and a doc) on periods and menstruation and the first paragraph actually uses the word ‘girls’ referring to the effect periods can have on the education.
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Father in law moving house. This belonged to our son, who is now 17. Used by other grandchildren who have also outgrown it. It’s ours but I can’t bring myself to let it go!
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Here’s my Xmas treat. Isolation! Luckily mild symptoms so far no doubt due to booster jab and Omicron variant. Here’s to vaccines, science and those amazing NHS workers. I hope not to be bothering them at all. Keep safe everyone. Get vaccinated.
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Happy birthday Wally Funk! It’s a big one but she’ll kill me if I tell you 🎂 ;)
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An important point to note as
@MForstater
prepares for her appeal tomorrow. Being able to speak freely on matters that affect women is hugely important.
You must not be discriminated against because of your religion or belief, or because of a lack of a religion or belief.
Find out more of the 9 protected characteristics ➡️
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Went to the sales this afternoon to buy some work clothes and came home with a rocket cocktail shaker and Saturn wine stop instead. Oops.
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🚀Happy birthday Wally Funk!
She wanted me to remove all reference to her age from
@WallyFunksSpace
- oops - so today I will refrain from putting a number on a remarkable woman, talented pilot and future astronaut with
@virgingalactic
Go Wally! 🚀
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If you’d like to see a Lego minifigures set celebrating the Mercury 13 women please create a free account and vote. First stage - get 100 votes within a month or idea gets removed. 75% there within 24 hours! So to get onto next stage please get voting! 🙂
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Back stage at
#SpaceRocks
with The Expanse’s brilliant
@Mi55Tipper
Our session is at 5pm. And we’re ready!
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The cool thing is that during the making of that programme Wally met
@AstroSamantha
- who will become the first female European commander of the Space Station in 2022.
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