WEBVTT

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Once there was a star,

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like everything else, she was born
grilled (?) to be about 30x

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the mass of our sun

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and lived for a very long time.

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Exactly how long?

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People cannot really tell.

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Just like everything in life,

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she reached the end of her
regular star days

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when her heart, the core of her life,
exhausted its fuel.

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But that was no end.

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she transformed into a supernovae,

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and in the process, releasing a tremendous
of energy,

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outshining the rest of the galaxy,

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and emitting, in one second,
the same amount of energy

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our sun will release in 10 days.

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And she evolved into another role
in our galaxy.

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Supernovae explosions are very extreme.

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But the ones that emit gamma rays
are even more extreme.

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In the process of becoming
a supernovae,

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the interior of the star collaposes
under its own weight.

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And it starts rotating ever-faster.

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Like an ice skater when pulling
their arms in close to their body.

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In that way, it starts rotating very fast
and it increases, powerfully,

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its magnetic field.

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The matter around the star
is dragged around,

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and some energy from that rotation
is transferred to that matter

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and the magnetic field is increased
even further.

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In that way, our star had extra energy
to outshine the rest of the galaxy

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in brightness and gamma ray emission.

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My star, the one in my story,

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became what is known as a magnetar.

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And just for your information,

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the magnetic field of a magnetar
is 1,000 trillionx

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the magnetic field of earth.

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The most energetic events
ever measured by astronmers

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carry the name Gamma Ray Bursts

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because we observe them as bursts
or explosions

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most strongly measured as gamma ray light.

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Our star, like the one in our story
that became a magnetar,

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is detected as a gamma ray burst

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through the most energetic
portion of the explosion.

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Yet, even though gamma ray bursts
are the stongest events

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ever measured by astronomers,

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we cannot see them with our
naked eye.

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We depend, we rely on other methods

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in order to study this gamma ray light.

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We cannot see them with our
naked eye.

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We can only see an itty bitty tinny
portion

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of the electromagnetic spectrum 
that call visible light.

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And beyond that, we rely on other methods.

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And as astronomers, we study a wider
range of light

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and we depend on other methods to do that.

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On the screen, it may look like this.

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You're seeing a plot,

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that is a light curve.

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It's a plot of intensity of light
over time.

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It is a gamma ray light curve.

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Sighted astronomers depend on this
kind of plot

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in order to interpret how this
light intensity changes over time.

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On the left, you will be seeing 
the light intensity without a burst,

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and on the right, you will be seeing
the light intensity with the burst.

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Early during my career, I could also
see this kind of plot.

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But then, I lost my sight, I completely
lost my sight

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because of an extended illness,

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and with it, I lost the opportunity
to see this plot

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and the opportunity to do my physics.

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It was a very strong transition for me
in many ways.

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And professionally, it left me
without a way to do my science.

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I longed to access adn scrutinize
this energetic light

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and figure out the astrophysical cost.

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I wanted to experience the spacious
wonder, the excitement,

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the joy produced by the detection 
of such a titanic celestial event.

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I thought long and hard about it.

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When I suddenly realized that all
a light curve is

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is a table of numbers converted
into a visual plot.

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So along with my collaborators,


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we worked really hard and we translated
the numbers into sound.

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I achieved access to the data,

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and today I'm able to do physics
at the level of the best astronomer

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using sound.

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And what people have been able to do,
mainly visually,

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for hundreds of years,

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now I do it using sound.

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(Applause)

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Listening to this gamma ray burst
that you're seeing on the --

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thank you --

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that you're seeing on the screen,

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brought something to the ear
beyond the obvious burst.

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Now I'm going to play the burst for you,

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it's not music, it's sound.

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(Sound of the plot)

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This is scientific data converted
into sound

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and it's mapped in pitch,
the process is called sonification.

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So listening to this brought something
to the ear

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besides the obvious burst.

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When I examine the very strong
low frequency regions,

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or base line,

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I'm zooming into the base line now --
or the baseline,

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we know that resonances that were
characteristic

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of electrically charged gasses
like the solar wind.

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And I want you to hear what I heard.

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You will hear it as a very fast
decrease in volume.

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And because you're sighted,

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I'm giving you a red line indicating
to you

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what intensity of light is being
converted into sound.

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(Sound)

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The (whistle) is frogs at home,
don't pay attention to that.

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(Laughter)

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(Sound)

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I think you heard it, right?

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So what we found is that the bursts
last long enough

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in order to support wave resonances,

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which are things caused by exchanges
of energy between particles

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that may have been excited
that depend on the volume.

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You may remember that I said
that the matter around the star

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is dragged around?

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It transmits power with frequency
and field distribution that

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are ?? by the dimensions

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And you may remember that
we were talking about

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a supermassive star that became
a very strong magnetic field magnetar.

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If this is the case, then outflows
from the exploding star

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may be associated with this 
gamma ray burst.

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What does that mean?

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That star formation may be 
a very important part

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of this supernovae explosion.

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Listening to this very gamma ray burst

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brought us to the notion that the use
of sound

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as a adjunctive visual display

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may also support sighted astronomers
in the search

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for more information in the data.

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Simultaneously, I worked on analyzing
measurements from other telescopes

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and my experiments demonstrated
that when you use sound

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as an adjunctive visual display,

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astronomers can find more information

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in this now more accessible data set.

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And this ability to transform data
into sound


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gives astronomy a tremendous power
of transformation.

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And the fact that a field that is
so visual may be improved

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in order to include anyone with interest
what in heaven lies

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is a spirit-lifter.

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When I lost my sight,

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I noticed that I didn't have access
to the same amount

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and quality of information
a sighted astronomer had.

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It was not until we innovated
with the sonification process

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that I regained the hope
of being a productive member

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of the field that I have worked
so hard to be part of.

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Yet, information access is not 
the only area in astronomy

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where this is important.

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The situation is systemic

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and scientific fields are not
keeping up.

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The body is something changeable --

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anyone may develop a disability
at any point.

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And let's think about, for example,
scientists who are

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already at the top of their careers,

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what happens to them if they develop
a disability?

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Will they feel excommunicated 
as I did?

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Information access empowers
us to flourish.

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It gives us equal opportunities to display
our talents

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and choose what we want to do
with our lives

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based on interest and not based
on potential barriers.

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When we give people the opportunity
to succeed without limits,

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that will lead to personal fulfillment
and prospering life.

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And I think that the use of sound
in astronomy

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is helping us to achieve that
and to contribute to science.

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While other countries told me
that the study of perception techniques

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in order to study astronomy data
is not relevant to astronomy

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because there are no bling astronomers
in the field,

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South Africa said, "We want people
with disabilities

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to contribute to the field."

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Right now, I'm working at the 
South African Astronomical Observatory

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at the office of Astronomy 
for Development.

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There, we are working on
sonification techniques

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and analysis methods
to impact the students

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of the Athlone School for the Blind.

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The se students will be learning 
radio astornomy

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and they will be learning
the sonification methods

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in order to study astronomical events
like huge ejections of energy

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from the sun, known as 
coronal mass ejections.

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What we learned from these students,

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these students have multiple disabilities
and coping strategies

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that will be accomodating.

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What we learn with these students
will directly impact

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the way things are being done
at the professional level.

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I humbly call this development,

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and this is happening right now.

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I think that science is for everyone.

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It belongs to the people,

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and it has to be available
to everyone

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because we are all natural explorers.

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I think that if we limit people
with disabilities

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from participating in science,

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we'll sever our links with history
and with society.

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I dream of a level 
scientific playing field

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where people encourage respect
and respect each other,

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where people exchange strategies
and discover together.

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If people with disabilities are 
allowed into the scientific field,

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an explosion, a huge titanic burst
of knowledge will take place,

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I am sure.

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(Sound of burst)

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That is the titanic burst.

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Thank you,

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thank you.

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(Applause)