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Andrew J. Crawford

@crawfordaj.bsky.social
336 followers 247 following 78 posts

Crazy for biodiversity across America -- especially South America 🌎. I’m here for the amphibians, the jokes, and a dab of evolutionary biology ‘n’ genomics. 🐸🧬

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Reposted by Andrew J. Crawford
Vertebrate Genomes Project @vertebrategenomes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
📅 Save the date! The next VGP In-Person Conference will be held Wednesday, April 7th - Friday, 9th 2027 at Rockefeller University in New York City. Registration and program details coming soon! vertebrategenomesproject.org/events
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 25/09/2026
An individual in Canada used ChatGPT for eight months to plan one of the country’s worst mass shootings. Yet, if you listen to politicians and media, the real threat of AI is a fantastical scenario where it might wipe out humans in ten years. They need to stop getting fooled by tech deceivers.
disconnect.blog
The media has the AI threat all wrong
Generative AI is harming people today. We don’t need to waste time fantasizing about science fictional scenarios.
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Kelly Zamudio @kzutaustin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Plant Colleagues! Open job for Director of the Billie L. Turner Plant Resources Center (PRC) at UT Austin. A great job for anyone addressing fundamental questions in evolution of plants and a commitment to herbarium administration and/or collections-based research. apply.interfolio.com/193263
a field of blooming bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas.
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George O'Toole (he/him/his) @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Pls share: We have a new position for an Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Biology at UNLV. tinyurl.com/4uhpav4j
tinyurl.com
Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Biology, School of Life Sciences [R0153361]
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) appreciates your interest in employment. We ask that you keep in mind the following when completing your application: Once you start the application process ...
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Biodiversity Genomics Europe plus (BGE+) @biogeneurope.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
BGE+ will open thematic funding calls via the EU’s #FSTP mechanism: biodiversitygenomics.eu/supporting-c... €2.75M for an ultimate goal: mobilise European researchers to increase production/application of #genomic data during the next 3.5 years @iboleurope.bsky.social @ergabiodiv.bsky.social
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Slice of life on the Río Piñuña, Putumayo, Colombia, where one might cross paths with indigenous folks, „white“ settlers, drug traffickers, military, guerrilla, gold miners, and religious missionaries, all in the same week.
Pig in a boat.House along the Río Piñuña seen in the distance through a curtain of arial roots. Houses and stores over the river in Piñuña Negro, historically an extremely violent little town and hub of narcotraffic. Laundry day on the river.
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Reposted by Andrew J. Crawford
Joe Brennan @biologyjoe87.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Looking for sci comm opportunities? Join us as a writer for American Naturalist press releases! These write-ups are primarily written by graduate students and other early-career scientists. No experience required; we have editors to help along the way. Apps due Sept 1. Please share widely :D
forms.gle
Looking for Press Release Writers & Editors for The American Naturalist
Sign up for the opportunity to write and/or edit for The American Naturalist! We are seeking authors to write press releases for new journal articles. See examples of recent press releases here. We a...
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Sunset over the #coca fields and outhouse in Putumayo 🇨🇴. My second week-long visit here, talking to lots of folks while filtering water for #eDNA work. History, culture, violence, human flourishing, #indigenous self-governance, life & death — it’s all unbelievably complicated and interesting.
Coca field surrounded by rainforest with an outhouse in the foreground, flanked by banana tree on one side, papaya tree on the other. Sunset time but looking east — to see a nice orange sky. Must be light from the west bouncing off the eastern clouds.
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Dinosaurs commonly seen along small Amazonian rivers. #Hoatzin
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
How the kids along the Putumayo river get to school each morning.
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Riding “La Linea” down the Putumayo River 🇨🇴
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Traveling down the Río Putumayo along the Colombia-Ecuador border.
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Earth BioGenome Project 🌍 @ebpgenome.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
🧬 The VGP Phase I preprint is out! 🎉 The Vertebrate Genomes Project has completed Phase I, delivering 816 of the highest-quality vertebrate reference genomes ever produced. Explore this major new resource for vertebrate genomics: 📄 tinyurl.com/VGPphase1 @vertebrategenomes.bsky.social #Genomics
Graphic featuring a collage of diverse vertebrates, including a chameleon, sea turtle, frog, whale, bat, duck, axolotl, shark, echidna, salamander, bird, tropical fish, leopard, crocodile, cassowary, clownfish, Komodo dragon, snake and deep-sea fish. Text reads: “A New Milestone for Vertebrate Genomics.” The Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP) has completed Phase I, delivering 816 high-quality reference genomes spanning 95% of vertebrate orders.Underwater photograph of a humpback whale swimming beneath the ocean surface. Text reads: “Why Vertebrates? More than 70,000 vertebrate species inhabit our planet.” High-quality reference genomes help researchers understand evolution, biodiversity, conservation and adaptation.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
BP quarterly profits up from $2.5bn to $5.73bn as Iran war sends oil prices soaring. Shell doubled its net profit to almost $10bn. High bills fuelling poverty and misery for households and businesses. Boon for execs and shareholders. Must levy 100% windfall tax on oil, gas, energy companies.
theguardian.com
BP profits more than double as Iran war sends oil prices soaring
Energy company’s $5.73bn quarterly profits come after Shell posted second highest quarterly earnings on record
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Morning on the Ecuadorean side of the Putumayo river. 🌤️ 🛶 We’ll be back again later in the year.
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Emily Troyer @fishfetisher.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
We're still looking for a Fish Collection Manager at the Sam Noble Museum in Oklahoma! Apply by August 1st. #MuseumJobs #TeamFish jobs.ou.edu/jobs/curator...
jobs.ou.edu
Curator Archivist - Norman, Oklahoma, United States
Pay Range: Targeted salary $18.99 per hour, based on experience Benefits Eligible: Yes Work Schedule: Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (may include some weekends) Travel: May be required For Be...
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Richard Conniff @richardconniff.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I'm hoping osprey lovers and striped bass fishermen will band together on behalf of the menhaden, before Omega Protein turns this fish into the next passenger pigeon. richardconniff.substack.com/p/a-great-wi...
richardconniff.substack.com
A Great Wildlife Success Story Crashes Down
On the Atlantic Coast, ospreys are suddenly in grave trouble
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Loren Cassin Sackett @cassinsackett.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Evidence that fighting pathogens requires more than the immune system: Great work by my collaborator @johnneddermeyer.bsky.social showing that evolved resistance to avian malaria in O'ahu 'amakihi is due not only to immune genes, but also calcium flux genes. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Evolution of Resistance to Avian Malaria Infection in an Endemic Hawaiian Honeycreeper
Hawaiian honeycreepers, a group of endemic song birds, represent one of the most stunning examples of an adaptive radiation. An evolutionary history devoid of malaria-causing parasites has made them ....
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Do Ho Suh’s “Karma” in the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art.
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Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 28/06/2026
UPDATE:
theguardian.com
‘It’s dangerous and it’s going to erode trust’: redesign of US government websites stokes surveillance fears
The National Design Studio, staffed by Doge veterans, installed visitor-tracking software on vital federal websites
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Trevor Caughlin @trevorcaughlin.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
New job--please share! Looking for a postdoc to deep learning methods for identifying plant species from drone imagery. The two year position offers a salary of $78,000 and the option to be based in Boise, Idaho, or Burns, Oregon. For more info: caughlinlab.com/join-the-lab/ #postdoc #drones #ai
caughlinlab.com
Join the lab! – Caughlin lab
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
“We don’t go to other planets because our planet is dying. Our planet dies, specifically because we perpetually want to go somewhere else.” @joshuaschrei
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 20/05/2026
Yesterday Google made it very clear it will degrade Search to use the massive amount of traffic to goes through it to push its billions of users into generative AI tools they aren’t asking for. Search is no longer a portal to the web; it’s a portal to Gemini. disconnect.blog/google-is-it...
Google made its ambitions quite obvious in its I/O announcements in 2023. On Tuesday, it laid out the next stage of its plan. The company made it clear there will be no escape from its generative AI products as AI hype continues to grip Silicon Valley, despite public sentiment very clearly turning against it and the data centers needed to power it. Search is the center of Google’s business and its power, and the company is taking a serious risk with the part of its business that drives more than half of its revenue.

While there will still be a box on google.com, it will no longer be a directory to the web. Now it will be the portal to Google’s suite of services, but especially its various generative AI tools it wants to force its users to become reliant on. In part that’s to try to win the AI war against its competitors, but it’s hard not to imagine it’s also a play to build user dependency on generative AI before it has to further jack up its prices.
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Organized crime adds to environmental destruction in the Amazon, report finds
news.mongabay.com
Organized crime adds to environmental destruction in the Amazon, report finds
A new report by the International Crisis Group finds that organized crime has become a “major obstacle” to protecting the Amazon. Criminal groups often operate across borders and are expanding…
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Reposted by Andrew J. Crawford
Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Smithsonian Fish Curator position announcement! Note the application dates of May 12 – June 2, 2026. Should be posted here tomorrow: trustcareers.si.edu#js-careers-j...
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Lovely tribute from the King to Sir David staring the vertebrate fauna of Britain 🇬🇧
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Science Magazine @science.org · 09/05/2026
Breaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. scim.ag/4tsDqRr
scim.ag
After USDA request, Indiana plant biologist locked out of lab by school
Move comes after Roger Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Here’s another plant that stumped the @inaturalist.bsky.social model. www.inaturalist.org/observations... It’s natural position and s hanging straight down. Also from Amazonia, namely Putumayo, Colombia. Anyone know what this might be? 🌱 🧪
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
www.inaturalist.org/observations... This crazy plant 🌱 stumped the @inaturalist.bsky.social AI model. Can anyone help me with an ID? 🧪 #Botany #Putumayo 🇨🇴
inaturalist.org
Vascular Plants (Phylum Tracheophyta)
Vascular Plants from Puerto Asís, Putumayo, CO on April 9, 2026 at 02:11 PM by Andrew J. Crawford
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Rio Putumayo. Colombia 🇨🇴 on the left, Ecuador 🇪🇨 on the right.
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Some flowers from the páramo in Chingaza National park, near Bogotá, Colombia, elevation about 3,000 m. 🧪
Vaccinieae. Common name Mountain Grape. 
Semi-parasitic plant, like mistletoe. Castilleja so.
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Humboldt's squirrel monkey (Saimiri cassiquiarensis), Reserva Natural El Caduceo, San Martín, Meta, Colombia.
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Earth BioGenome Project 🌍 @ebpgenome.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
🧩 From #salamanders with some of the largest, most complex genomes to #invasive species like the American #bullfrog, #amphibian genomics is pushing #sequencing forward — while filling major gaps in the #vertebrate Tree of Life.🧬💻 Big thanks to @crawfordaj.bsky.social for helping shape this post! 🧬✨
Alt EN: Image shows a large green and brown American bullfrog partially submerged in bright green duckweed, with only its head and eyes above the water. Text on image: “Inform invasive species management. Sequencing invasive amphibians, like the American bullfrog, helps track introductions, spread, and rapid adaptation.”
Alt ES: Imagen de una rana toro americana grande, verde y marrón, parcialmente sumergida entre lentejas de agua verde brillante, con la cabeza y los ojos sobre la superficie. Texto en la imagen: “Informan la gestión de especies invasoras. Secuenciar anfibios invasores, como la rana toro americana, ayuda a rastrear introducciones, expansión y adaptación rápida.”Alt EN: Image shows a smooth, legless caecilian lying on wet soil and leaf litter in a forest floor setting. Text on image: “Fill major gaps in the Tree of Life. Amphibians remain underrepresented in genomic databases. Sequencing them strengthens phylogeny and comparative research across vertebrates.”
Alt ES: Imagen de una cecilia lisa y sin patas sobre suelo húmedo y hojarasca en el suelo del bosque. Texto en la imagen: “Llenan grandes vacíos en el Árbol de la Vida. Los anfibios siguen poco representados en las bases de datos genómicas. Secuenciarlos fortalece la filogenia y la investigación comparativa en vertebrados.”
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Journal of Evolutionary Biology @jevbio.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Responsible publication of your research! To help you do this @nicolasgaltier.bsky.social and coauthors have put together a handy database of academia-friendly journals, DAFNEE. You can read about it in their article recently published in @jevbio.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
doi.org
Time to publish responsibly: DAFNEE, a database of academia-friendly journals in ecology and evolutionary biology
Abstract. The current economics of scientific publishing reveal a profound imbalance: academia pays prices far exceeding the actual costs of publication. R
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
Human-AI interactions in 2025 summed up in 5 seconds. 🤣 What further wonders await us in 2026? 🥹 @parismarx.com
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Could it be that the popularity of the Orange Dictator brand is falling sharply? 🍹 cheers.
“Dictador” (or ‘dictator’ in English) brand rum from Colombia— this variety is labeled ‘Orange’.
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Nicole Kearney @nicolekearney.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Rudolf Meier paraphrases a post from @rdmpage.bsky.social : as ~ 2/3 of the records in GBIF are birds, @gbif.org is primarily a Global Bird Information Facility. To correct this bias, we need to focus on the “ugly” biodiversity. 🪰 🪱 🪳 🦟 @mfnberlin.bsky.social #LivingData2025 x.com/rdmpage/stat...
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
A gran day out: The salt mines and natural history museum of Nemocón, Cundinamarca, Colombia.
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
@harryshearer.bsky.social Apple podcasts seems to think Le Show is every 2 weeks 🙃
#LeShow
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Jarome Ali 🇹🇹 🏳️‍🌈 @jarome.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
Pick an idiom: "more than meets the eye", "beauty more than skin [feather] deep" etc. In work led by Rosalyn Price-Waldman, we describe a hidden (and ignored!) black or white layer found below the visible surface of bird feathers which helps make bird colours so striking! 🧪 🪶 #colsci
science.org
Songbirds play optical tricks to make their feather colors ‘pop’
Concealed black or white bands on feathers boost the vibrancy of bird plumage
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
“Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark For the straightforward pathway had been lost.” — Dante Alighieri (Longfellow translation) 704 years on, I suspect this opening connects with more people than ever.
Drawing: Dante goes astray in a dark wood (Gustave Dore, 1870).
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Earth BioGenome Project 🌍 @ebpgenome.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
(1/2) 🧬 The African BioGenome Project 🌍 is training the next generation of genomics experts through groundbreaking, hands-on workshops across 50 African countries—laying the foundation for innovation and discovery across the continent. 🚀📖 Read the 2025 publication: go.nature.com/40INiek
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Janet Carter @janetdcarter.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
Damn the fascist and complicit GOP.
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
“We've gained notoriety And caused much anxiety In the Audubon Society With our games They call it impiety And lack of propriety And quite a variety Of unpleasant names But it's not against any religion To want to dispose of a pigeon.” Farewell to the master satirist and lyricist. 🕊️… ☠️
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
The call for sessions is open now! September 2025: Call for abstracts December 2025: Early bird registration opens.
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
The legendary Janzen & Hallwachs on the collapse of insects. “It’s the same sheet, same lights same place, looking over the same vegetation. Same time of year, same time of the moon cycle, everything about it is identical... There’s just no moths on that sheet.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects
A new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species’ collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticides
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Earth BioGenome Project 🌍 @ebpgenome.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Registration, abstracts, and symposium proposals now open for: XIII Congreso Latinoamericano de Herpetología 23-27 Feb. 2026, in spectacular Costa Rica 🇨🇷 🐍🦎🐸🐢🐊 www.herpcr2026.com/inscription ¡Pura vida, Mae! @sajherpetology.bsky.social @arc-trust.bsky.social #Amphibians #Reptiles
herpcr2026.com
Inscripción — XIII CLH
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Earth BioGenome Project 🌍 @ebpgenome.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Check out this recent publication from EBP all stars @crawfordaj.bsky.social sky.social @solenne-correard.bsky.social sky.social and @cmazzoni.bsky.social
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Andrew J. Crawford @crawfordaj.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Dig the latest episode of the podcast “Entrespecies” from Gabriela Supelan and El Espectador newspaper about Digital Sequence Information 💾🧬ℹ️, Benefit Sharing, #COP16 and the #CaliFund, featuring Yours Truly, but in Spanish. _Espero que lo disfruten_. open.spotify.com/episode/5GgZ...
open.spotify.com
¿Quién se beneficia de la información genética de nuestra biodiversidad?
Entrespecies Pódcast · Episode
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