Events by Type

Field Trip
Hosted Event
Plenary
Preconference
Program Session
Symposium
University Event
Workshop

Redwoods of Northern California

THIS FIELD TRIP IS FULL. Registration fee: $45 Details: Wear comfortable hiking shoes. Trip organizer/speaker: Lynn Yarris, NCSWA/Todd Dawson, UC Berkeley Sponsored by: UC Berkeley NOTE: Start and end times given...
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Bodega Bay: Oysters, Abalone, and Ocean Acidification

Registration fee: $25 (lunch included) Details: Wear comfortable walking shoes Organizer: Kat Kerlin, UC Davis Strategic Communications Sponsored by: UC Davis Strategic Communications NOTE: Start and end times given for field trips are...
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The Science of Wine – Robert Mondavi Institute

THE ORIGINAL FIELD TRIP TO NAPA HAS BEEN REPLACED. Due to the recent fires in the Napa Valley area, we regret that we have to cancel the tour of UC...
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UC Davis Innovative Energy Tour: Leading the Way to a Sustainable Future

Registration fee: $25 (lunch included) Details: Wear comfortable shoes Organizers: Stephen Kulieke, UC Davis Institute of Transportation; Alicia Loge, UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center Sponsored by: UC Davis Strategic Communications NOTE: Start...
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Earthquake Faults in the San Francisco Bay Area

Registration fee: $20 Details: Wear shoes suitable for outdoor walking on uneven surfaces. Dress in layers. Bring rain gear, water, hat, and sunscreen as appropriate. Organizer: Robert Finn, Univadis.com Sponsored by: US...
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Coastal Hazards in a Time of Rising Seas and Climate Change

Registration fee: $20 Details: Wear clothing and shoes suitable for outdoor walking on uneven surfaces. Bring rain gear, water, hat, and sunscreen as appropriate. Organizer: Robert Finn, Univadis.com Sponsored by: US Geological...
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Tour X, the Moonshot Factory

THIS FIELD TRIP IS FULL. Registration fee: $20 (lunch included) Organizer: Donna Alvarado Sponsored by: Alphabet’s X NOTE: Start and end times given for field trips are the times when the...
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Nice Missile You Got There: New Tools for Nuclear Data Journalism at Planet

Registration fee: $25 (happy hour reception included) Organizer: Devon Terrill, The Stanley Foundation Sponsored by:The Stanley Foundation, The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, and...
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Parks for Science, Science for Parks: UC Field Station at Point Reyes National Seashore

Registration fee: $25 (lunch included) Details: Wear shoes suitable for walking outdoors on the beach. Dress in layers. Bring rain gear, water, hat, and sunscreen as appropriate. Organizer: Kathleen Wong, UC...
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A Look Inside the World’s Largest Laser

Registration fee: $20  Sponsored by: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory NOTE: Start and end times given for field trips are the times when the trips depart from and return to the...
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Sea Otters, Sharks and Conservation at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Registration fee: $45 (lunch included) Organizer: Rob Irion, UC Santa Cruz Sponsored by: Monterey Bay Aquarium NOTE: Start and end times given for field trips are the times when the trips...
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Earthquake Early Warning and the Hayward Fault

Registration fee: $20 (lunch included) Details: Wear comfortable walking shoes Organizer/speaker: Robert Sanders, UC Berkeley/Richard Allen, Director, Berkeley Seismological Laboratory Sponsored by: Berkeley Seismological Laboratory NOTE: Start and end times given...
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Meet the Innovators of Tomorrow’s Life Science Breakthroughs at Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS

Registration fee: $20 (lunch included) Organizer: Mary Miller, Exploratorium Sponsored by: Johnson & Johnson Innovation NOTE: Start and end times given for field trips are the times when the trips...
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Deep-sea Robots, Underwater Landslides and Creatures of Monterey Canyon

Registration fee: $25  Lunch: Available to purchase Details: Wear comfortable walking shoes Organizer: Wallace Ravven Sponsored by: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute NOTE: Start and end times given for field...
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Visit Bayer CoLaborator and Become a Pharma Employee for a Day

Registration fee: $20 (lunch included) Sponsored by: Bayer NOTE: Start and end times given for field trips are the times when the trips depart from and return to the Marriott Marquis...
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Exhibits Opening and Awards Celebration

Awards celebration co-sponsored by American Chemical Society and American Institute of Physics Join us in opening the conference exhibit hall and toasting award-winning science journalists around the world!

Opening Gala: Farm–>Table

Sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, WCSJ2017 Diamond Sponsor Tonight, we celebrate the conference with a reception at the stunning California Academy of Sciences. The evening’s theme, Farm–>Table, will showcase California’s...
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Closing Reception at the Exploratorium

WCSJ2017 will close with a celebration and reception at the Exploratorium on Pier 15 of San Francisco’s historic Embarcadero. Join us to see why in 2013 The New York Times named the...
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Preconference Symposium on New Genetic Technologies: Ethical Debates and Global Science Policy

A preconference event sponsored and organized by The Hastings Center Advanced registration required. CRISPR greatly enhances the ease and affordability of gene editing. It is being used to modify plants...
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Lunch and Tours: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

NOTE: The bus will depart at 12:15 from the UC Berkeley campus and return to campus at 4:30.  Advanced registration required. One of America’s premier national laboratories will open its...
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University Events @ UC San Francisco

UC San Francisco (UCSF) is one of the premier health sciences universities in the world.  It receives more funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health than any other public...
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University Events @ UC Berkeley

GENERAL REGISTRATION FOR SUNDAY EVENTS AT UC BERKELEY HAS CLOSED. If you have registered, you may edit your choices of on-campus events through October 12. Please be sure to make...
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Luncheon – Preprints, Open Access, and the End of Ingelfinger: Issues at the Nexus of Publishing and Science Journalism Today

A luncheon event organized by eLife, with support from additional sponsors Advanced registration required. This hosted luncheon event will explore how changes in science publishing are affecting how research is conducted,...
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James_Fraser
James Fraser
Rebecca Lawrence
Subhra_Priyadarsini
Subhra Priyadarshini

Luncheon – The Power of Alpha: New Therapies for Cancer Patients?

A sponsored luncheon program offered by Bayer Advanced registration required. Even though 70 new therapies have been launched during the past five years, cancer is still the second leading cause...
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Luncheon – The DNA Damage Response – an emerging target for groundbreaking cancer therapies

A sponsored luncheon program offered by AstraZeneca Advanced registration required. Every day, the DNA in our cells is damaged tens of thousands of times by natural and external factors.(1) Fortunately,...
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Luncheon – Who Will Do Science? International Perspectives from Women in STEM Leadership

Hosted event sponsored by 23andMe and Johnson & Johnson Innovation Advance registration required. Update November 6: Results of the audience survey taken at the luncheon are now posted. Download “Audience...
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Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan
Naledi Pandor
Naledi Pandor
Miyoko_O_Watanabe
Miyoko O. Watanabe
Emily_Drabant_Conley
Emily Drabant Conley
Seema _Kumar
Seema Kumar

W0) 2017 Latin American Edition of the Jack F. Ealy Science Journalism Workshop

A preconference workshop sponsored by Fundación Ealy Ortiz A.C. Advance registration required. The 2017 Latin American Edition of the Jack F. Ealy Science Journalism Workshop will bring together more than...
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Enrique_Bustamante
Enrique Bustamante Martinez

Opening Ceremony

Opening remarks by: Cristine Russell and Ron Winslow, co-chairs, WCSJ2017 Organizing Committee Curtis Brainard, president, World Federation of Science Journalists Enrique Bustamante Martinez, executive director, Fundación Ealy Ortiz S.A.

P1) Rewriting the Code of Life

Not since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world against its use. Not, that is, until the spring of 2015, when biologist...
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Jennifer Doudna
Jennifer Doudna

P10) “One Test to Rule Them All”: Joe DeRisi in Conversation with Carl Zimmer

Joe DeRisi never rests in his pursuit of new technologies for finding and fighting mystery diseases. As a teen in the 1980s, DeRisi watched the AIDS epidemic catch the medical...
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Joe_DeRisi
Joe DeRisi
Carl_Zimmer
Carl Zimmer
Sam_Hawgood
Sam Hawgood

P11) Climate Change Primer: Responding to Global Impacts of Human Activity

California leads the United States in responding to global climate change as it tries to create a clean-energy economy, ameliorate the effects of global change and promote green businesses for...
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William_Collins
William Collins
Inez_Fung
Inez Fung
Kristina_Hill
Kristina Hill
Dan_Kammen
Daniel Kammen
David_Sedlak
David Sedlak

P2) Why the Wafflers Are Wrong: Addressing Climate Change Is Urgent—and a Bargain

In 2017, more than 80 percent of the world’s energy supply continues to come from burning coal, oil and natural gas, with complete release of the resulting carbon dioxide. Among...
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John Holdren
John P. Holdren

P3) The Art of Truth: Data Visualization and Infographics for Everyone

With facts and truth increasingly under assault, many interest groups have enlisted data visualization to support all manner of spin. Because digital images and graphics are inherently sharable and can...
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Alberto Cairo
Alberto Cairo

P4) In Defense of Science

The Fifth Annual CASW Patrusky Lecture The scientific world is facing its greatest challenge in centuries. A facts-based, data-driven way of operating is being rejected as elitist. With this change...
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Sue_Desmond-Hellmann
Susan Desmond-Hellmann

P5) Africa: The Cradle of Mathematical Sciences

In his address, Thierry Zomahoun will emphasize that history matters. Storytelling sets the tone for global perceptions of reality, which in turn influence the behavior of one group of people...
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Thierry_Zomahoun
Thierry Zomahoun

P6) A Delicate Balance: Immunity in Health, Disease and Medicine

From moment to moment, our immune system maintains a remarkable state of equilibrium, a tightrope act that is vital to our survival. On the one hand, the immune system must...
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Jeff_Bluestone
Jeffrey Bluestone

P7) Book It: A Conversation Among Authors Mary Roach, Steve Silberman and Ed Yong

Two internationally known book authors—Steve Silberman, author of Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, and Ed Yong, author of I Contain Multitudes—join fellow author and moderator...
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Steve_Silberman
Steve Silberman
Mary_Roach
Mary Roach
Ed_Yong
Ed Yong

P8) Science Journalism, Authoritarian Regimes, and Pseudoscience

Pseudoscience deceives millions of people every day. Although scientists and journalists try to expose baseless assertions, governments around the world often will make decisions based on such claims or on...
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Carla_Da_Silva_Almeida
Carla Da Silva Almeida
Jasson_Muir_Clarke
Jasson Muir Clarke
Dyna_Rochmyaningsih
Dyna Rochmyaningsih
Sarah_Wild
Sarah Wild
Mohammed_Yahia
Mohammed Yahia

P9.5) Closing Ceremony and Plenary: The Hazard Zone: Science Journalists Tackle Natural Disasters

The panelists in this late-breaking plenary, organized to address the recent spate of natural disasters, will discuss the challenges of covering earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, and other events.
Guillermo_Lopez_Portillo_Vargas
Guillermo Lopez Portillo
Lesley_McClurg
Lesley McClurg
Eva_Ruth_Moravec
Eva Ruth Moravec
Brian_Resnick
Brian Resnick
Erik_Vance
Erik Vance

Preconference Symposium on New Genetic Technologies: Ethical Debates and Global Science Policy

A preconference event sponsored and organized by The Hastings Center Advanced registration required. CRISPR greatly enhances the ease and affordability of gene editing. It is being used to modify plants...
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Student Journalist Orientation and Training

Open only to students funded by WCSJ2017 student travel fellowships. All U.S. and international student travel fellows will attend a mandatory half-day orientation and skills workshop to preview their assignments...
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Rob_Irion
Rob Irion
Diego_Graglia
Diego Graglia

W0) 2017 Latin American Edition of the Jack F. Ealy Science Journalism Workshop

A preconference workshop sponsored by Fundación Ealy Ortiz A.C. Advance registration required. The 2017 Latin American Edition of the Jack F. Ealy Science Journalism Workshop will bring together more than...
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Enrique_Bustamante
Enrique Bustamante Martinez

W1) Feeding the World: Achieving Sustainable Agriculture

A preconference workshop sponsored by the Research Councils UK and produced by the World Federation of Science Journalists Advanced registration required. Participants should arrive in San Francisco by Tuesday evening,...
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Harry_Surjadi
Harry Surjadi

W2) Emerging Infectious Diseases: Post Zika in Latin America and the Caribbean

A preconference workshop sponsored by the Research Councils UK and produced by the World Federation of Science Journalists Advanced registration required. Description This half-day workshop will cover elements of the...
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Nora_Bär
Nora Bär

W3) Data Analysis in R for Journalists

Advance registration required. This hands-on workshop is designed for science journalists who have some experience or training in data journalism and are comfortable writing computer code and working with statistics....
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Peter_Aldhous
Peter Aldhous

A1) Conflicts of Interest for Freelance Science Journalists

As well-paid, freelance commissions in science journalism become harder to find, freelancers are supplementing their income by providing science writing services to the public and private sectors, teaching or accepting...
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Brooke_Borel
Brooke Borel
Federico_Kukso
Federico Kukso
Mohammed_Yahia
Mohammed Yahia

A2) Open Data and Global Drug Discovery

What if it turned out that all the data scientists needed to find new ways to diagnose and treat disease were already available for free online? As just one example,...
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Atul_Butte
Atul Butte

A3) Tapping Databases for Scientific Evidence on Health

Approximately 2.5 million new scientific papers are published each year, according to recent estimates. To keep up with the literature in a field such as cancer, for example, a person...
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Anurag_Acharya
Anurag Acharya
Roxanne_Khamsi
Roxanne Khamsi
Robert_Logan
Robert Logan

A4) Putting Character into Science—the Power of Profiles

What makes a good science profile, and when is it the right or wrong way to approach a story? We all know that one seemingly easy way to help a...
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Yudhijit_Bhattacharjee
Yudhijit Bhattacharjee
Christie_Aschwanden
Christie Aschwanden
Jo_Chandler
Jo Chandler
Jennifer_Couzin-Frankel
Jennifer Couzin-Frankel
John_Travis
John Travis

A5) The Future of Work

A range of technologies, including cloud and mobile computing, big data and machine learning, sensors and intelligent manufacturing, and robotics and drones, are transforming societies around the world. Nowhere will...
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Wayne_Cascio
Wayne Cascio
Kristian_Hammond
Kristian Hammond
Margaret_Levi
Margaret Levi
Joan_Williams
Joan Williams

B1) Science Heard Around the World: Podcasting in the U.S. and Beyond

It seems as if we’re entering the golden age of podcasting: technological innovation has made it possible to launch a podcast from your own bedroom, and a growing audience is...
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Cynthia_Graber
Cynthia Graber
Antonio_Martinez_Ron
Antonio Martínez Ron
Luis_Quevedo
Luis Quevedo
Wendy_Zukerman
Wendy Zukerman

B2) Decolonizing Science

Is it possible to decolonize science – a serious and thoughtful demand that’s been bubbling up of late, especially in the Global South? Is science captive to its history in...
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Sibusiso_Biyela
Sibusiso Biyela
Javier_Cruz-Mena
Javier Cruz-Mena
Nolwazi_Mkhwanazi
Nolwazi Mkhwanazi
Padma_Tata_Venkata
Padma Tata Venkata

B3) The Global Refugee Crisis: Changing Health Needs

An unprecedented 65 million people worldwide have been displaced from their homes, many by war, persecution and violence. The refugee crisis has ensnared people in Africa, the Middle East, Asia,...
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Hussam_Jefee-Bahloul
Hussam Jefee-Bahloul
Liliana_Osorio
Liliana Osorio
Carmen_Rodriguez
Carmen Rodriguez
Nancy_Shute
Nancy Shute

B4) Third Interactive WCSJ House of Commons Debate: With Science Under Attack, Should Science Journalists Get Off the Sidelines?

In 2013, it was Helsinki; in 2015, it was Seoul. Now, San Francisco is about to fiercely debate a hot topic in science journalism. On the table: doing science journalism...
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B5) Can We Save the Oceans from Ourselves?

The ocean is arguably the planet’s greatest natural wonder, covering nearly three-quarters of the earth’s surface, providing many ecosystem services and supporting an abundance of life. Unfortunately, human activities are...
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Andrea_Saenz-Arroyo
Andrea Sáenz Arroyo
Malin_Pinsky
Malin Pinsky
Rashid_Sumalia
Rashid Sumaila

C1) Science Journalism in Latin America: Past, Present and Future

Latin America is a region rich in science. Although science here lacks the financial support found in other regions, scientists engage in rigorous and important research throughout the continent. The...
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Daniela_Hirschfeld
Daniela Hirschfeld
Federico_Kukso
Federico Kukso
Paula_Leighton
Paula Leighton
Gerardo_Sifuentes
Gerardo Sifuentes Marin
Angela_Posada-Swafford
Angela Posada-Swafford

C2) SESAME – A Scientific Source of Light for the Middle East

In May 2017, one of the world’s most unlikely laboratories opened for business. SESAME – Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East – is a new third...
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Roy_Beck-Barkai
Roy Beck-Barkai
Maedeh Darzi
Nathanial_Herzberg
Nathanial Herzberg
Kirsi_Lorentz
Kirsi Lorentz

C3) Why Social Determinants Matter in Health Journalism

The belief in the ability to exert control over one’s life and environment is regarded as essential for both physical and mental well-being. Both philosophy and pop culture teach that...
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Paula_Braveman
Paula Braveman
Mia_Malan
Mia Malan
KSrinath_Reddy
K Srinath Reddy
Bibi-Aisha_Wadvalla
Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla

C4) Covering Research on Lab Animals: Challenges and Opportunities

Biomedical research on lab animals is an increasingly contentious topic — and a tricky subject for the science journalists who cover it. The public is sharply divided over the ethics...
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Larry_Carbone
Larry Carbone
David_Grimm
David Grimm
Laura_Helmuth
Laura Helmuth
John_Ngai
John Ngai

C5) The Rise of Digital Science Magazines

New digital outlets focusing on serious science journalism often anticipate that their “digital native” readers will be more engaged in the wider world and potentially more involved with their communities...
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Steven_Bedard
Steven Bedard
Estrella_Burgos
Estrella Burgos
Stephen_Embleton
Stephen Embleton
Amanda_Mascarelli
Amanda Mascarelli
Rebecca_Tan
Rebecca Tan

D1) Science’s Billionaire Backers: Philanthropy’s Role in Research

Philanthropists around the world are giving huge sums to science research. To name just a handful: Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s commitment of $3 billion to biomedical research initiatives Paul...
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Cyndi_Atherton
Cyndi Atherton
Aaron_Horvath
Aaron Horvath
Chonnettia_Jones
Chonnettia Jones
Robert_Tjian
Robert Tjian

D2) The Challenges of Covering Sexual Harassment in Science

Sexual harassment in science burst into the public spotlight when a series of major media stories revealed serious allegations against prominent scientists in astrophysics, anthropology, biology, public health and medicine....
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Rhitu_Chatterjee
Rhitu Chatterjee
Azeen_Ghorayshi
Azeen Ghorayshi
Frances_Hellman
Frances Hellman
Meg_Urry
Meg Urry

D3) The Challenges of Covering Infectious Disease Outbreaks

SARS. Bird flu. Ebola. Zika. Outbreaks of new or re-emerging diseases keep coming, and science, society and the media always seem to be caught off guard. Cases mount, scientists are...
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Helen_Branswell
Helen Branswell
Martin_Enserink
Martin Enserink
Duane_Gubler
Duane J. Gubler
Dick_Thompson
Dick Thompson

D4) Neurons from the Human Brain

Clinical case studies and laboratory experiments tell us that human consciousness is closely linked to electrical activity in the most complex piece of excitable matter in the known universe, the...
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Christof Koch

D5) Power Pitch 2017

Advance signups for this session begin on September 6 and close on September 16. See details below. Welcome to Power Pitch 2017, where you’ll have the opportunity to sit across...
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Ross_Anderson
Ross Andersen
Steven_Bedard
Steven Bedard
Eric_Betz
Eric Betz
Estrella_Burgos
Estrella Burgos
Caty_Enders
Caty Enders
Seth_Fletcher
Seth Fletcher
Chrissie_Giles
Chrissie Giles
Laura_Helmuth
Laura Helmuth
Jude_Isabella
Jude Isabella
Elizabeth_Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
Luisa_Massarani
Luisa Massarani
Derek_Mead
Derek Mead
Mike_Mechanic
Michael Mechanic 
Lauren_Morello
Lauren Morello
Katie_Palmer
Katie Palmer
Noelle_Swan
Noelle Swan
Mićo_Tatalović
Mićo Tatalović
John_Travis
John Travis
Jacob Ward
Pamela_Weintraub
Pamela Weintraub
Harry_Wilson
Harry Wilson
Tom Zeller

E1) Land of The Giants: South American Dinosaurs and Antarctic Secrets

Dinosaurs are the stars of Latin American science, and usually dinosaur stories quickly spread around the world. In 2012 in the southernmost corner of the Americas, Argentine paleontologists discovered the...
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Sebastián_Apesteguía
Sebastián Apesteguía
Soledad_Gouiric_Cavalli
Soledad Gouiric Cavalli
Diego_Pol
Diego Pol

E2) There Is a 95% Chance You Should Attend this Session on Statistics

If you are a science journalist—and we think there is a high probability that you are—you will encounter research with “statistically significant” findings. Some of us regularly report on studies—in...
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Christie_Aschwanden
Christie Aschwanden
Andrew_Gelman
Andrew Gelman
Kristin_Sainani
Kristin Sainani
Tom_Siegfried
Tom Siegfried

E3) Slow-Motion Epidemics: The Global Threat of Chronic Disease

Infectious diseases such as Ebola make headlines as public health threats in poor countries and as fear factors when they spread to rich ones, but slow-motion epidemics of chronic diseases...
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Jorge_Gomez
Jorge Gomez
Lawrence_Gostin
Lawrence Gostin
Silvana_Luciani
Silvana Luciani
Marilynn_Marchione
Marilynn Marchione

E4) Fact-checking: The Future of Journalism?

Since last year, we have heard a lot about fake news. Fact-checking items have multiplied in the North American and European media. Science still has little place in this trend...
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Eve_Beaudin
Eve Beaudin
Brooke_Borel
Brooke Borel
Gary_Dagorn
Gary Dagorn
Alex_Kasprak
Alex Kasprak

E5) Reporting on Genome Editing: An International Discussion

Genome editing is one of the fastest-moving stories in science today. The 2012 introduction of CRISPR technology, which allows scientists to rewrite genomes with ease and precision, has sparked an...
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Xiaoxue_Chen
Xiaoxue Chen
Pallab_Ghosh
Pallab Ghosh
Natasha_Mitchell
Natasha Mitchell
Antonio_Regalado
Antonio Regalado
Valeria_Roman
Valeria Román

F1) Conflicting Data: Dealing with the Reproducibility Issue

There is nothing worse than getting a story wrong. But what happens when the science itself is wrong? More than half of scientists today think that there is a substantial...
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Monya_Baker
Monya Baker
Mina_Bissell
Mina J. Bissell
Bibiana_Campos-Seijo
Bibiana Campos-Seijo
Ivan_Oransky
Ivan Oransky
Mohammed_Yahia
Mohammed Yahia

F2) Astronomy’s Next Big Things

Life beyond Earth. Dark matter and dark energy. Event horizons around supermassive black holes. It is hard to imagine a more enigmatic set of cosmic mysteries. Perhaps their allure has...
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Sheperd_Doeleman
Sheperd Doeleman
Joshua_Frieman
Joshua A. Frieman
Lisa_Harvey-Smith
Lisa Harvey-Smith
Catherine_Walsh
Catherine Walsh

F3) Reporting with Clarity on Vaccines and Vaccine Development

One of the most striking results of the 2016 State of Vaccine Confidence study, which surveyed 65,819 individuals in 67 countries, is that in France, Pasteur’s home, 41 percent of...
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Eve_Dubé
Ève Dubé
Serusha_Govender
Serusha Govender
Andrew_Holtz
Andrew Holtz
Cecile_Klinger
Cécile Klingler
Mark_Miller
Mark Miller

F4) Economic Inequality, Violence, and Life in a Changing Climate

If the global climate warms, how will this affect human societies around the world? Science fiction books and movies speculate about possible futures, but what do the data say? A...
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Solomon_Hsiang
Solomon Hsiang

F5) The Human Ethics of Global Crisis Reporting

Science is at the heart of many of the world’s greatest crises, including infectious disease outbreaks, weather and climate related catastrophes, and energy sector exploitation and accidents. When science journalists...
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Ramesh_Bhushal
Ramesh Bhushal
Margie_Mason
Margie Mason
Natasha_Mmonatau
Natasha Mmonatau
Izabela_Moi
Izabela Moi
Josue_Rivas
Josué Rivas

G1) A Modestly Grandiose Proposal for How Scientists and Journalists Might Save the World, Up for Discussion

There is a body of techniques and practices, a language and culture, that scientists learn by apprenticeship and osmosis as they train. These form the underpinnings of an approach to...
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Saul_Perlmutter
Saul Perlmutter

G2) Covering Indigenous Voices in Science

There is no greater science-and-society gap than the one between scientists and indigenous people. To bridge this gap, researchers and health journalists are charged with being sensitive, open and understanding...
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Gunn-Britt_Retter
Gunn Britt Retter
Padma_Tata_Venkata
Padma Tata Venkata
Phil_McKenna
Phil McKenna
Thiago_Medaglia
Thiago Medaglia

G3) Antibiotic Resistance: The Next Challenges

There is near-universal recognition now that antibiotic resistance, generated by overuse and misuse in medicine and agriculture, is a grave global problem. It accounts for an estimated 700,000 deaths per...
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Ramanan_Laxminarayan
Ramanan Laxminarayan
Maryn_McKenna
Maryn McKenna
Kevin_Outterson
Kevin Outterson
Tara_Smith
Tara C. Smith

G4) Innovating for Development

About 700 million people in the world live below the international poverty line of $1.90 a day, with spotty access to electricity, sanitation and health care. These are the people...
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Trevor_Mundel
Trevor Mundel
Nathan_Myhrvold
Nathan Myhrvold
Rosalia_Omungo
Rosalia Omungo

G5) Stories Don’t Stop at Borders, So Journalists Shouldn’t Either

Science is an international business, major stories are cross-border or even global and the need for independent journalism to reflect this is vital. Yet the constraints journalists face regarding their...
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Helen_Briggs
Helen Briggs
Ides_Debruyne
Ides Debruyne
Christabel_Ligami
Christabel Ligami
Anna_Valmero
Anna Valmero

H1) Mobile Technology, Newsroom and Citizen Engagement

How can media make the most of mobile technology to distribute news? Panelists in this session will share their experiences in using mobile technology — SMS, bluetooth, smart phone applications...
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Shubhranshu_Choudhary
Shubhranshu Choudhary
Harry_Surjadi
Harry Surjadi

H2) Make ‘em Sizzle: Turn Up the Heat on Slow Environmental Stories

Covering the slow-burn, unsexy stories of long-term environmental crises can be a greater challenge than ever for science journalists working in a 24/7 news cycle. Too often coverage bends inexorably...
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Jennifer_Burney
Jennifer Burney
Gustavo_Faleiros
Gustavo Faleiros
Subhra_Priyadarsini
Subhra Priyadarshini

H3) Cutting-Edge Nuclear Technology: Which Questions Matter?

How should science reporters write about nuclear technology — both fission and fusion? Should they focus on the scientific, the engineering and the safety aspect? Or should they also include...
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Richard_Buttery
Richard Buttery
Nathan_Myhrvold
Nathan Myhrvold
Per_Peterson
Per Peterson
Sonja_Schmid
Sonja Schmid

I1) Engaging Your Audience with Poop Jokes and Other Funny Elements

Which would you rather read: an article about a new superconductor made of hydrogen sulfide or a superconductor made of farts? Or better yet, which article would you rather cover?...
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Helena_González_Burón
Helena González Burón
Rachel_Feltman
Rachel Feltman
Adam_Rogers
Adam Rogers
Joel_Warner
Joel Warner

I2) When Will Healthcare Reach Digital Nirvana?

Over the past decade, healthcare has gone from an information business whose backbone was the three-ring binder and the fax machine, to a digital business. Shockingly, this transition has not...
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Julia Adler-Milstein
Julia Adler-Milstein
Udi_Manber
Udi Manber
Robert_Wachter
Robert Wachter

I3) Leveling the Playing Fields: Science Journalism and Big Food

“Big Food” corporations (which include both food and beverage companies) have some of the largest marketing budgets in the world. These budgets buy a great deal of airtime and sophisticated...
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Alejandro_Calvillo_Unna
Alejandro Calvillo Unna
Kerry_Cullinan
Kerry Cullinan
Harry_Dugmore
Harry Dugmore
Shalini Anand
McKay_Jenkins
McKay Jenkins

I4) Engineered Cells: The Medicines of Tomorrow

With the much-heralded success of the modified immune cells known as CAR-T cells in the treatment of leukemia, we’re growing accustomed to the idea that, in very limited circumstances, human...
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Wendell_Lim
Wendell Lim

J1) Innovative Approaches to Teaching Science Journalism

There may be as many different approaches to teaching science journalism as there are fields to cover. This session is aimed at academics, journalists and communicators who are teaching science journalism...
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Gustavo_Faleiros
Gustavo Faleiros
Joydeep_Gupta
Joydeep Gupta
Jennifer_Kahn
Jennifer Kahn

J2) “Contact” Plus 20: Where We Are in the Search for Aliens

2017 marks 20 years since the movie “Contact” was released, and it still holds up as a classic story about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI. But the search...
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Guillem_Anglada-Escude
Guillem Anglada Escude
Seth_Shostak
Seth Shostak
Jill_Tarter
Jill Tarter
Dan_Wertheimer
Dan Werthimer
Wilson_DaSilva
Wilson da Silva

J3) Exploring and Managing Earth’s Microbiome

Cheap DNA sequencing has transformed the field of biology, revealing everything from the genetic drivers of cancer to the keys to human evolution. Today, scientists can even afford to sequence...
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Jill_Banflield
Jill Banfield
Nicholas_Bouskill
Nicholas Bouskill
Susan_Lynch
Susan Lynch

K1) Ringing in the Changes: The Role of Advocacy Journalism in Telling Science Stories

Can advocacy journalism, which demands close involvement, and science journalism, which requires distance, be bedfellows? Do journalists relinquish their objectivity when advocating on an issue? Is it necessary for science...
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Akin_Jimoh
Akin Jimoh
Jop_De_Vrieze
Jop De Vrieze
William_H_Funk
William H. Funk

K2) Undercover Science Journalism

Undercover reporting—doing a journalistic investigation while pretending not be a journalist—has been interwoven with science and health journalism probably since Nellie Bly’s famous 1887 book, Ten Days in a Mad-House....
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Hristio_Boytchev
Hristio Boytchev
Ramu_Sapkota
Ramu Sapkota
Faye_Kirkland
Faye Kirkland

K3) Stem Cells: The Hype and the Hope

Hope is at an all-time high around the potential of stem cells to cure disease. The first clinical trial using induced pluripotent stem cells to treat macular degeneration is ongoing...
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Deepak_Srivastava
Deepak Srivastava

K4) Progress, Pitfalls, and Prospects: An “Un-Lecture” on Cancer

The advances we have made in understanding cancer over the past decade have been so rapid and profound that clichés often attached to scientific process—revolution, paradigm shift, Golden Age—seem almost...
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Alan_Ashworth
Alan Ashworth

P1) Rewriting the Code of Life

Not since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world against its use. Not, that is, until the spring of 2015, when biologist...
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Jennifer Doudna
Jennifer Doudna

P10) “One Test to Rule Them All”: Joe DeRisi in Conversation with Carl Zimmer

Joe DeRisi never rests in his pursuit of new technologies for finding and fighting mystery diseases. As a teen in the 1980s, DeRisi watched the AIDS epidemic catch the medical...
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Joe_DeRisi
Joe DeRisi
Carl_Zimmer
Carl Zimmer
Sam_Hawgood
Sam Hawgood

P3) The Art of Truth: Data Visualization and Infographics for Everyone

With facts and truth increasingly under assault, many interest groups have enlisted data visualization to support all manner of spin. Because digital images and graphics are inherently sharable and can...
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Alberto Cairo
Alberto Cairo

P4) In Defense of Science

The Fifth Annual CASW Patrusky Lecture The scientific world is facing its greatest challenge in centuries. A facts-based, data-driven way of operating is being rejected as elitist. With this change...
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Sue_Desmond-Hellmann
Susan Desmond-Hellmann

P6) A Delicate Balance: Immunity in Health, Disease and Medicine

From moment to moment, our immune system maintains a remarkable state of equilibrium, a tightrope act that is vital to our survival. On the one hand, the immune system must...
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Jeff_Bluestone
Jeffrey Bluestone

P7) Book It: A Conversation Among Authors Mary Roach, Steve Silberman and Ed Yong

Two internationally known book authors—Steve Silberman, author of Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, and Ed Yong, author of I Contain Multitudes—join fellow author and moderator...
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Steve_Silberman
Steve Silberman
Mary_Roach
Mary Roach
Ed_Yong
Ed Yong

P8) Science Journalism, Authoritarian Regimes, and Pseudoscience

Pseudoscience deceives millions of people every day. Although scientists and journalists try to expose baseless assertions, governments around the world often will make decisions based on such claims or on...
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Carla_Da_Silva_Almeida
Carla Da Silva Almeida
Jasson_Muir_Clarke
Jasson Muir Clarke
Dyna_Rochmyaningsih
Dyna Rochmyaningsih
Sarah_Wild
Sarah Wild
Mohammed_Yahia
Mohammed Yahia

Preconference Symposium on New Genetic Technologies: Ethical Debates and Global Science Policy

A preconference event sponsored and organized by The Hastings Center Advanced registration required. CRISPR greatly enhances the ease and affordability of gene editing. It is being used to modify plants...
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Lunch with a Scientist @ UC Berkeley

Registration is required. Partake of the tastiest new science during lunch with UC Berkeley scientists discussing the upside of stress and the science of pain and itch, as well as...
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Lunch with a Scientist @ UC San Francisco

Registration is required. Meet a schizophrenia researcher who developed the illness himself, and hear first-hand how that experience changed his science. Discuss how science communication could itself be improved through...
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Lunch and Tours: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

NOTE: The bus will depart at 12:15 from the UC Berkeley campus and return to campus at 4:30.  Advanced registration required. One of America’s premier national laboratories will open its...
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UC Berkeley Campus and Lab Tours

If you have registered to attend sessions, lunch and tours at UC Berkeley, you will have the option to sign up for a tour during the first three days of...
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UCSF/BASF Science Expo

Open to all registrants attending sessions at UCSF. No signup required. Presented in conjunction with the Bay Area Science Festival, at UCSF’s Science Expo you will: Experience holographic surgical planning....
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Tour of Memory & Aging Center and Neuroscape Lab @UCSF

Registration is required. Join a hands-on exploration of Adam Gazzaley’s Neuroscape Lab, where neuroscience, technology, computer gaming, and the arts drive new strategies to enhance cognition. Also visit Bruce Miller’s...
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Tour of Gladstone Institutes and Human Performance Center @UCSF

Registration is required. This tour will be offered twice. Visit the state-of-the-art Gladstone Institutes, an academically affiliated research enterprise next to UCSF’s Mission Bay Campus, where Gladstone scientists will demonstrate...
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Tour of Science Up Close @UCSF

Registration is required. This tour will be offered twice. Come to Genentech Hall, considered the biotech heart of the Mission Bay campus, to see the latest scientific tools in action....
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Flagship Lunch @ UCSF: Provocative issues in cancer — immunotherapy, when not to treat, global cancer burden

Registration is required. Gather for lunch with pioneers of tomorrow’s cancer treatments. At this informal event, sponsored by the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC) and moderated by acclaimed journalist...
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Adil_Daud
Adil Daud
Laura_Esserman
Laura Esserman
Katherine_Van_Loon
Katherine Van Loon

Student Journalist Orientation and Training

Open only to students funded by WCSJ2017 student travel fellowships. All U.S. and international student travel fellows will attend a mandatory half-day orientation and skills workshop to preview their assignments...
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Rob_Irion
Rob Irion
Diego_Graglia
Diego Graglia

W0) 2017 Latin American Edition of the Jack F. Ealy Science Journalism Workshop

A preconference workshop sponsored by Fundación Ealy Ortiz A.C. Advance registration required. The 2017 Latin American Edition of the Jack F. Ealy Science Journalism Workshop will bring together more than...
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Enrique_Bustamante
Enrique Bustamante Martinez

W1) Feeding the World: Achieving Sustainable Agriculture

A preconference workshop sponsored by the Research Councils UK and produced by the World Federation of Science Journalists Advanced registration required. Participants should arrive in San Francisco by Tuesday evening,...
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Harry_Surjadi
Harry Surjadi

W2) Emerging Infectious Diseases: Post Zika in Latin America and the Caribbean

A preconference workshop sponsored by the Research Councils UK and produced by the World Federation of Science Journalists Advanced registration required. Description This half-day workshop will cover elements of the...
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Nora_Bär
Nora Bär

W3) Data Analysis in R for Journalists

Advance registration required. This hands-on workshop is designed for science journalists who have some experience or training in data journalism and are comfortable writing computer code and working with statistics....
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Peter_Aldhous
Peter Aldhous

W4) Industry Documents: Gold Mines for High-Impact Stories

Advanced registration required. Through decades of lobbying, the tobacco industry has provided a blueprint for using, or even corrupting, scientists to muddle evidence and meddle in public policies around the...
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Stanton_Glantz
Stanton Glantz
Cristin_Kearns
Cristin Kearns
Rachel_Taketa
Rachel Taketa

W5) Data Journalism: How to Turn Data into Stories

Advanced registration required. So you finally got your hands on some data. After sending requests and cajoling sources for months, an email finally arrives with a link. You click it...
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