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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience

@lseanimalsentience.bsky.social
214 followers 133 following 57 posts

We use the science of animal minds to design better policies, laws and ways of caring for other animals. www.lse.ac.uk/sentience / www.linkedin.com/company/lseanimals…

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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Join us to find out how close we are to talking to animals! www.lse.ac.uk/events/talk-... @lsephilosophy.bsky.social
lse.ac.uk
Can we talk to animals? | Coller Dolittle Prize Winner
6:30pm Wed 7 Oct | Dr Julie Elie, Dr Irene Pepperberg, Professor Yossi Yovel | Ticket Required | Free public event at LSE
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
📢 Abstract submissions are now open for SENTIENCE: Science, Ethics, Law, a new conference exploring the scientific, philosophical, ethical, policy-relevant, and legal aspects of animal sentience. Full details and submission link: www.lse.ac.uk/asset-librar...
Infographic for the call for the abstracts.
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The American Veterinary Medical Association has supported legislation that would overturn protections against the use of some extreme confinement systems for pigs. How can this tally with its responsibilities towards animal welfare? bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
‘The AVMA must withdraw support for overturning Proposition 12‘
Steven McCulloch argues that the American Veterinary Medical Association's support for federal legislation overturning state farm animal welfare laws is incompatible with veterinary responsibilities.
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
AI is transforming sectors, but are we considering its impact on farming strongly enough? This is a window of opportunity to centre animal welfare in technology and policy.
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Some progress for cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans 🦑🦀 The UK's new White Paper on Veterinary Surgeons Act reform proposes aligning the definition of "animal" with the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022, including cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans.
White Paper text proposing that the definition of "animal" in future veterinary legislation include cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans.
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Insect Welfare Research Society @insectwrs.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Deadline this Saturday (Aug 15)! If you're doing work relevant to invertebrate welfare indicators, submit an abstract. 👇
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
A more complete view of environmental justice includes not only human financial loss, but harms to individual sentient animals.
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Emily Payne @epayne.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
AI could potentially improve the lives of billions of farm animals worldwide. But critics worry it risks further expanding factory farms while avoiding animal welfare problems inherent to the industrial farming system. My latest on @sentientmedia.org: sentientmedia.org/ai-is-coming...
sentientmedia.org
AI Is Coming to Factory Farms. Will It Help the Animals or Just the Industry?
New technology can detect pain in farm animals, but critics say it may do more to bolster the system than improve it.
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Pleased to see this outcome - following the sustained efforts of many advocating for these amazing creatures 🐙
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Recent contributions to wildlife law emphasise that wild animals should be recognised as sentient individuals, not just components of ecosystems www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
eurekalert.org
For biodiversity to thrive across Europe, laws should treat wildlife as individuals capable of suffering – experts argue
Wildlife protection frameworks in both the EU and the UK need stronger and more consistent implementation – and must recognise animals as “individuals capable of experiencing suffering&rdq...
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Dr Heather Browning (Veit) @zoophilosophy.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Do birds enjoy flying? Cool new research shows evidence of positive affect associated with flying in galahs (an Australian parrot species) doi.org/10.1163/1568...
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Bees continue to capture public interest - this time their casual puzzle‑solving 🐝 www.ecoportal.net/en/americans...
ecoportal.net
While Americans spend their Saturdays mowing, the bumblebee in that same grass was quietly cracking a century old intelligence test, rolling a ball beneath a flower and climbing on top, and 3 in 4 of ...
Scientists just confirmed bumblebees can solve problems the way chimps do. The surprise is where these tiny geniuses are hiding: your backyard lawn.
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
In Argentina, two goldfish have recently been recognised as legal ‘subjects of rights’ - a new case highlighting legal attention to animal sentience www.i24news.tv/en/news/inte...
i24news.tv
Two goldfish just won a court case - and it could change how we think about animals forever - i24NEWS
An Argentine court just ruled that two fish in a sushi restaurant window are "sentient beings" with legal rights. Here's what that actually means, and why it matters far beyond the fish tank
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Gary McFarlane @garym6942.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Slow-motion videos suggest that the insects display distinct behaviors when they like or dislike a snack. The findings might offer a new way to study their emotion-like states. www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/b... via @smithsonianmag.bsky.social #entomology #science #biology #SciChat
smithsonianmag.com
Bumblebees Seem to 'Lick Their Lips' After Sweet Treats and Shake Their Heads at Bad Tastes, Hinting at the Insects' Inner Lives
Slow-motion videos suggest that the insects display distinct behaviors when they like or dislike a snack. The findings might offer a new way to study their emotion-like states
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Theiss Bendixen @theissbendixen.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
New research! 📚 We built the largest database to date of cephalopod species - octopuses, squids and cuttlefish - and their brains, habitats and behaviors 🐙🧠📈 What did we find?👇 Press release: www.lse.ac.uk/news/ecologi... Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
“An early framework: look carefully at behaviour, compare species, distrust easy human exceptionalism and take animal expression seriously.” www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026...
dailymaverick.co.za
The horse, the hippo and the sulky chimp – Darwin’s contribution to animal sentience
Today we debate in law whether animals feel fear, pleasure, pain and distress. In 1872, Darwin was already there – reading emotion in a pawing horse, an affectionate dog, a bristling cat and a chimpan...
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Alan McElligott @amcell.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
2026. Pragmatism bias in farmed animal welfare science. pureportal.ilvo.be/en/publicati...
pureportal.ilvo.be
Pragmatism bias in farmed animal welfare science
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Anil Seth @anilseth.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
How might animals perceive time? Ishan Singhal describes how illusions might hold the key, in today's @theguardian.com (based on our recent @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social which he led) @singhal.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Why would we show an optical illusion to a monkey or a sparrow? To learn how they experience time, of course | Ishan Singhal
Animals may inhabit the same world as us, but new research shows how their perceptions of what is around them differs, says research fellow Ishan Singhal
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Veterinary associations hold significant influence across food systems and animal welfare regulations, yet their positions don’t always align with the profession’s ethical commitments or recognition of animal sentience. boldreasoningwithpetersinger.substack.com/p/when-veter...
boldreasoningwithpetersinger.substack.com
When veterinarians fail animals
Why is America’s leading veterinary association supporting farmed animal suffering?
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Congratulations to Dr Julie Elie for working out the 11 core calls in the zebra finch vocabulary and their meanings; awarded the 2026 Coller-Dolittle prize for two-way interspecies communication! www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
theguardian.com
A little bird told her: scientist wins $100,000 prize for decoding birdsong
Julie Elie worked out how zebra finches announce who they are, what they are doing and use individual signatures
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
On Friday 26 June @birchlse.bsky.social will be in a cross-cultural dialogue exploring insights into animal consciousness, food choices and the environment. Free and open to everyone - details and registration: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #LCAW2026
docs.google.com
Animal Consciousness & The Environment: Insights From Science & Vedanta.
Join us for an evening with Professor Jonathan Birch, Professor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics and Acharya Prashant, Philosopher and Author. Date: Friday, June 26, 2026 Doors: 6:20 p...
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Jonathan Birch @birchlse.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Did the evolution of consciousness begin with smell? I have a piece arguing it might well have done (in response to @smfleming.bsky.social and @matthiasmichel.bsky.social's recent vision-centric picture). Free to read here: drive.google.com/file/d/1ZhrI...
The evolution of consciousness: Olfaction first, vision later?
Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2026
Jonathan Birch
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Recognition of animal sentience appears to be increasing in the UK, according to the RSPCA's 2026 Kindness Index (an annual survey of public attitudes towards animals): www.rspca.org.uk/whatwedo/lat...
rspca.org.uk
Kindness Index 2026 | Report & Key Findings - RSPCA - rspca.org.uk
Take a closer look at the animal welfare and sentience issues facing the public in 2026. See where we've taken positive steps, and where more needs to be done.
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Lynne U. Sneddon @lynneusneddon.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
The science of sentience - Mark Briffa and I discuss why we need a precise definition of sentience so we can empirically test hypotheses of animal sentience. This allows us to provide evidence to legislators and other stakeholders #sentience www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/animsent/vol...
wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org
On the edge of science?
In The Edge of Sentience, Jonathan Birch (2024) provides a thought-provoking synthesis of current perspectives on animal (and artificial) sentience. He addresses the question from conceptual, ethical,...
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LSE Philosophy @lsephilosophy.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
🌱🌍 The video of the "Food future" panel is now available online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j4w... The panel of experts discussed the ethical, logistical, and technical challenges of transitioning to a more planet-friendly food system. @birchlse.bsky.social @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social
youtube.com
Food futures | LSE Festival
YouTube video by LSE
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Lewis Pugh Foundation @lewispughfdn.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Sperm whales have accents. Scientists studying sperm whales in the Mediterranean have discovered distinct regional dialects. royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article... 📷 Image: Amanda Cotton/Ocean Image Bank (photographed in Caribbean) @unbiodiversity.bsky.social #whales #oceanscience
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Grumpy Philosopher @stevecooke.org · 24/06/2026
Wow, hot isn't it. Animal agriculture contributes somewhere in the region of 15-20% of greenhouse gases and is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. We cannot save our planet without drastically reducing consumption of animal products.
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Anil Seth @anilseth.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Do animals perceive time differently from humans? Science covers our new paper on 'timescapes of animal experience', led by Ishan Singhal @singhal.bsky.social 🦇🐈🦋🕷️🐟🐒🐍🪰🦜⏰ www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Do animals perceive time differently from humans?
Science chats with a researcher whose team is using “timescapes” to understand how nonhumans experience the world
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Excited to share our contribution to the #LSEFestival exhibition on holding powerful veterinary institutions to account. One of many LSE Research contributions on display in the Marshall Building Great Hall, free and open to everyone to browse until 2 July. www.lse.ac.uk/events/lse-f...
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Kristof Dhont @kristofdhontphd.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Our review on #speciesism is now out in Nature Reviews Psychology. rdcu.be/foTDx We synthesise research on how people think about animals, morally rank species, and justify animal exploitation and consumption. A pleasure to work on this with @gordonhodsonphd.bsky.social @springernature.com
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Jonathan Birch @birchlse.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
How do other animals experience time? It's been a pleasure to work with @singhal.bsky.social and @anilseth.bsky.social on a paper exploring how temporal illusions and other experimental strategies can shed light on this. It's our today! www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
A figure highlighting several ways of exploring how animals experience time: apparent motion, change blindness, continuity illusions, attentional blink, perceptual rivalries, the flash lag illusion, the peripheral drift illusion.
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Danai Papageorgiou @danaipapageorgiou.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
This @noemamag.com article by Ryan Huling, author of Hidden Nations, beautifully covers our Nature Sustainability paper with @merikatariina.bsky.social and @birchlse.bsky.social! If you can’t access it, let me know 😉 doi.org/10.1038/s418...
doi.org
Protecting animal cultures as World Heritage - Nature Sustainability
It is becoming increasingly clear that animal cultures have intrinsic, irreplaceable value, and yet they are not adequately protected by preserving habitat. The time has come for UNESCO to explicitly ...
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Stuart K Watson @chimpsahoi.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Coverage in the Guardian of our latest publication in Royal Society Open Science, with fantastic collaborators Alan McElligott (@amcell.bsky.social), Christian Nawroth (@goatswhostare.bsky.social), Federico Rossano and Simon Townsend. Paper threaded below! www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
theguardian.com
Goats can find food by following a human voice, study finds
Experiments show 29 animals moved towards a treat-filled bucket 60% of the time when guided by a researcher
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Nuno Miguel Gonçalves @scinuno.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Can an octopus use a mirror as a tool? 🐙🪞 Researchers found octopuses can learn to use mirrors to locate food hidden from view, a skill previously documented only in vertebrates. Every time we think we've reached the limit of octopus intelligence, they casually move the goalposts. #Science
sciencedaily.com
Octopuses use mirrors to find food they cannot see
Octopuses may be even smarter than we thought. Researchers at Dartmouth found that octopuses can learn to use mirrors to locate food hidden behind them—a skill previously seen only in vertebrates like...
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Susana Monsó @susanamonso.com · 16/06/2026
Once upon a time, I approached biologists @biotay.bsky.social and @auersperga.bsky.social with some crazy ideas on how to test for animals’ concept of death. Many years later, our first study with the stellar cockatoos from the Goffin Lab is finally out! (More to come)
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
We’re bringing topics of animal sentience - in the context of food choices - to the table this London Climate Action Week #LCAW2026. Join our audience on Saturday 20 June, 5–6pm (in‑person or online): londonclimateactionweek.org/event/food-f... #LSEFestival
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The European Institute for Animal Law & Policy @animallaweurope.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
🦞 In honor of #CrustaceanCompassionDay2026, a screening of ‘Seantience’ by Animal Ethics. 🦀The film explores the inner lives of aquatic animals & makes the ethical implications of their sentience impossible to dismiss. 🎞️ Register to watch @ 20:00 CEST → tinyurl.com/2rd3t4dr #CCDay2026
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Journal of Practical Ethics @practicalethics.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Special issue now online: Gandhi's Ahimsaism, Insects, and Animal Sentience. Target article by @birchlse.bsky.social with commentaries from Angie Pepper, Gary O'Brien, Samantha Hurn & Alexander Badman-King. Now online, full publication in August: www.uehiro.ox.ac.uk/article/jpe-... #ahimsaism
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Growing evidence is exposing how power, influence, and economic and political incentives shape current food systems - with industrialised pig farming revealing outcomes misaligned with the public interest, animal welfare, environmental sustainability, and public health.
youtube.com
Who really controls animal welfare? | LSE Future Proof
YouTube video by LSE
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Denmark is set to move from ultra‑intensive pig farming toward a lower‑density model, following sustained evidence of welfare harms, environmental impacts, community effects, and the economic costs of the existing system - too many for citizens and politicians to ignore.
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Jonathan Birch @birchlse.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
If insects are sentient and sentience implies rights, what follows for food security and public health? I call this the "insect challenge" for animal ethics. The Journal of Practical Ethics has a new symposium on it, with an article by me and 3 replies: journals.publishing.umich.edu/jpe/news/ 1/5
A photograph of a bumblebee on a flower (by Jonathan Birch)
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Grumpy Philosopher @stevecooke.org · 05/06/2026
Incredible. They can count, they can use tools, they make motivational trade-offs, can be trained, have memories, etc. At this point, I'd be more surprised to learn they don't feel pain than that they do. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
‘They surprise me every time’: bees can use tools to solve problems, study finds
Insects join list of species capable of solving simple ‘box-and-banana’ problem that demonstrates basic intelligence
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
After a recent vote, New York is now very close to banning octopus farming - joining California and Washington, where bans are already in force.
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Lars Chittka @larschittka.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Bees just did something no other insect has been shown to do
Like humans, bumble bees can plan ahead when working through a problem, even pausing to consider the solution
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Josh Milburn @joshmilburn.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
The Bank of England is holding a vote for the animals that will appear on the next UK banknotes. Contribute! My vote was for hedgehogs and grey seals in the mammal category, barn owls and curlews in the bird category, and buff-tailed bumblebees and common frogs in the 'other' category.
bankofengland.co.uk
Help us celebrate the UK’s wildlife
Tell us which animals you would like to see on our next series of banknotes by 3 July 2026
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LSE Philosophy @lsephilosophy.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
🌍 Scientists agree we cannot reach our climate targets without significantly changing our diets. However, food choice can be complex & controversial, and it’s unclear how to move dietary change up the policy agenda. 📅 20 June, 5pm - 6pm 📍 LSE & online #LSEFestival www.lse.ac.uk/events/lse-f...
lse.ac.uk
Food futures | Ethical and technical challenges
5pm Sat 20 Jun | Dr Chris Bryant, Dr Tara Garnett, Dr Natalia Lawrence, Dr Feiyang Wang, Anthony Warner | Ticket required
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Lars Chittka @larschittka.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Thank you so much to the @royalsociety.org for this wonderful honour and to all the wonderful young people who have, over the years, been bold enough to join our somewhat eccentric endeavour of trying to understand an insect mind! And a big thank you to the bees of course! 🥹🙏
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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
“More than 80% of studies that use insects omit anaesthesia for severe procedures”; growing calls for ethical consideration of invertebrates used in science - and implementation of a precautionary principle to guide inclusive welfare standards www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Rethinking invertebrate welfare in science
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