What would a world without mosquitoes look like?
In 1958, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) made a milestone announcement: they had exterminated the mosquito Aedes aegypti–a transmitter of the deadly diseases dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever–from Brazil. This represented the culmination of decades of work. In the 1930s, an ambitious inspection regime removed any sources of stagnant water–key mosquito breeding grounds–in areas where A. aegypti had been detected. Authorities eased this onerous system in the years after World War II as they found success in wiping out mosquitoes with a new weapon: the insecticide DDT.
PAHO didn't stop at the Brazilian border; by the mid-1970s, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Paraguay were among nine South and Central American countries to have eradicated A. aegypti. This had significant epidemiological impacts: dengue and other conditions virtually disappeared from the DDT-soaked countries, and the specter of these conditions retreated from the continent.
Unfortunately, the story was far from over.
Mosquito control efforts failed to account for how persistent A. aegypti could be. It was never eradicated from Columbia or Guyuna. Within just a few decades of PAHO's declaration, dengue re-emerged. Worse still, DDT, PAHO's bug spray of choice, was revealed to have horrific effects on biodiversity in sprayed environments. Public sentiment turned against this indiscriminate tool after the publication of books like Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.
Fast-forward to today. Last year was one of the worst on record for dengue in South America in the face of a resurgent A. aegypti. New mosquito-borne diseases like Zika have emerged. The dream of a pest-free South America is further away than ever. However, the goal of squashing mosquito-borne diseases is still paramount for Scott O'Neill, CEO of the World Mosquito Program, a network of companies spun out of Monash University.
O'Neill explains that his program aims not to suppress mosquitoes but to help them fight the viruses that infect them and turn them into disease vectors. The WMP's approach involves the symbiotic bacterium Wolbachia.
'Around 50 percent of all insects naturally have Wolbachia,' explains O'Neill. The bacterium cannot survive outside hosts' bodies and infects many organs in A. aegypti. The WMP breeds huge populations of mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia and releases them into the environment. Inside A. aegypti mosquitoes, disease-causing viruses also exploit their hosts' cells to reproduce. O'Neill aims to create a population of mosquitoes in which these viruses have to compete with Wolbachia.
Fighting Wolbachia inside an insect is like trying to arm wrestle a polar bear in a Siberian snowstorm. The bacterium has developed various ingenious tools to make itself the dominant symbiote. O'Neill explains that it alters the lipid profile inside mosquitoes' cells, making it harder for them to reproduce. It even boosts the antiviral responses of the A. aegypti immune system, helping the mosquito fight off its competitors.
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No further intervention is needed after the initial injection of Wolbachia-infected insects. Over time, Wolbachia will naturally spread through the mosquito population and the number of bugs that can become infected with viruses declines. WMP say this approach has slashed rates of dengue in Australia and Columbia. In a controlled trial in Indonesia, the technique reduced virologically confirmed dengue by 77 percent.
If A. aegypti was somehow wiped from existence, it wouldn't significantly harm the ecosystems it lives in, says O'Neill. That's because it largely ignores environments where other animals live, unlike other species of mosquitoes that are food sources for frogs and fish. 'It lives in cities, and it's exquisitely adapted to biting humans,' says O'Neill.
Some scientists suggest that if every mosquito species were to disappear, there would be significant impacts on bird populations. However, this is contested by other researchers who say they aren't an irreplaceable part of these birds' diet. Some mosquitoes are pollinators, although very few plant species are only pollinated by mosquitoes. In short, the loss of all mosquito species would be felt by ecosystems, but to a much lesser extent than the loss of vital pollinators like the honey bee.
Our efforts to remove even one ecologically unimportant mosquito species have fallen short for now. O'Neill says that entomologists call A. aegypti the 'cockroach of the mosquito world' for good reason, and its tenacity and widespread range mean that we are unlikely to see a world without this buzzing pest any time soon.
This story is part of Popular Science's Ask Us Anything series, where we answer your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the ordinary to the off-the-wall. Have something you've always wanted to know? Ask us.
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Boston Globe
7 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Conrad ‘Gus' Shinn, first pilot to land at the South Pole, dies at 102
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Looking back on the flight, Commander Shinn said that getting to the pole was the easy part. Getting back proved far more challenging, requiring the use of more than a dozen small rockets to dislodge the plane from the ice and provide enough thrust for takeoff. Advertisement Friends said that long after he retired, when he was introduced to strangers as 'the first man to land at the South Pole,' he would gently note: 'Well, that's true. But more importantly, I'm the first man to take off from the South Pole.' By flying to the pole and back, Commander Shinn — who died May 15 at 102 ― helped open up a new era of Antarctic research, demonstrating that it was possible for personnel and supplies to be flown to one of the world's most desolate places. By his count, he made about 17 South Pole flights, providing assistance to Navy construction workers who began creating a permanent research base, a precursor to today's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, a few weeks after his first trip. Advertisement Scientists continue to conduct experiments at the pole, including on air quality, seismic waves, and elementary particles known as neutrinos. Tractors make the weeks-long trek to bring supplies overland from McMurdo Station. And supply planes continue to fly in and out, although the aircraft — ski-equipped LC-130s, carrying as much as 42,000 pounds of cargo — are more powerful and better equipped than the planes flown by Commander Shinn and his colleagues. 'Everything was critical in that day: attitude and altitude and air speed, weight and balance. We hardly stayed in the air,' he said in a 1999 interview for the Antarctic Deep Freeze Oral History Project. A North Carolina native who joined the Navy during World War II, Commander Shinn started out as a multiengine pilot in the South Pacific, transporting medical supplies and wounded men. He later flew military brass and other VIPs, ferrying flag officers, Cabinet secretaries, and friends of President Harry S. Truman, before volunteering for Operation Highjump, a Navy program that brought him to Antarctica for the first time in 1947. By then, the Navy had been involved in Antarctic exploration for years, supporting scientific research while also — amid a Cold War standoff with the Soviet Union — seeking 'to establish a foothold in a region of the world that could be strategically important,' said Hill Goodspeed, a historian at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fla. Advertisement To prepare for the mission, Commander Shinn took a transport plane equipped with skis and tested it on the ice in Edmonton, Alberta. He went on to fly a ski-clad R4D, the military version of a Douglas DC-3 airliner, off an aircraft carrier, taking it hundreds of miles over the ice to reach Little America, the Navy's makeshift exploration base on the Ross Ice Shelf. Commander Shinn lived on the ice for about a month, sleeping in a tent — designed more for the tropics than the Antarctic — and flying photographic missions that were intended to help map the continent. At the end of his tour, he was picked up by an icebreaker and joined the command ship of Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, who had made history in 1929 as the first person to fly over the South Pole. Commander Shinn accompanied the admiral on a triumphant voyage to the Washington Navy Yard, where Byrd shook hands with the secretary of the Navy and presented the National Zoo with a gift of two-dozen penguins. (When a crate burst open during unloading, three of the birds disappeared into the Anacostia River.) By 1956, Commander Shinn had returned to Antarctica as part of Operation Deep Freeze, a Navy mission that was launched in support of the International Geophysical Year, a collaborative effort promoting scientific research at the poles and elsewhere around the world. This time he lived in comparative luxury at McMurdo Sound, in a heated Quonset hut instead of a tent. Still, he noted that the solitude of the Antarctic could take a toll — 'people get angry with one another; there were a few mental cases' — and that even with his experience navigating high winds and whiteout conditions, the risks of polar aviation remained high. Advertisement During an exploratory flight near the Beardmore Glacier, his airplane was caught in a wind shear and 'fell out of the sky,' hurtling toward the ground before Commander Shinn turned to a rocket system known as JATO, for jet-assisted take-off, in which rockets are fired to provide additional thrust. 'The wing rolled and the wingtip touched the ice. I'm sure it added to the deafening blast of the JATO firing,' he said in the oral history. 'We were close enough to the surface to send up a huge balloon of ice crystals. The passengers must have been terrified. But we flew out.' Commander Shinn turned to the JATO system once again during his historic flight to the South Pole, aboard a propeller-driven R4D-5L named Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be), after the newly released Doris Day pop song. The plane carried seven passengers and crew members, including Rear Admiral George J. Dufek, who stepped outside and planted an American flag into the ice. (Technically, they had landed about four miles from the geographical South Pole. Observers deemed it close enough.) The group set up a metal radar reflector, intended to help future pilots make their way to the site, and spent about 45 minutes outside before readying for takeoff. Commander Shinn was already prepared for a difficult departure by virtue of the pole's altitude, at more than 9,000 feet. But he was surprised to discover that while the plane's engines were running, the snow under its skis had melted and refrozen. Advertisement They were stuck. 'We just sat on the ice like an old mud hen,' he told the Associated Press in 1999. Overheard was an Air Force cargo plane, assigned to hang close and drop supplies in case of disaster. It wasn't needed: Commander Shinn was able to free the plane by firing JATO bottles, four at a time, enabling the Que Sera Sera to break loose and, at full throttle, take off — just barely. Commander Shinn and his crew flew through 'a cloud of ice,' using their instruments to navigate while unable to see out of the cockpit, before making their way back to base at McMurdo, some 800 miles away. After landing, his colleague John P. Strider downplayed their difficulties at the pole, joking to a reporter that he dealt with only one problem on the flight: 'My coffee wouldn't percolate at 12,000 feet.' As a result of the mission, Commander Shinn was awarded the Legion of Merit. Antarctica's third-highest peak, Mount Shinn, was named in his honor. 'I had been lucky,' he said in the oral history, looking back on his flying days in the Antarctic. 'Lucky — that's what I would call it.' The second of six children, Conrad Selwyn Shinn was born in Leaksville, N.C. — a mill town that is now part of the city of Eden — on Sept. 12, 1922. His father served in the infantry during World War I and worked as a YMCA secretary; his mother managed the home. As a boy, he idolized Charles Lindbergh and Wiley Post, pilot heroes of the golden age of aviation. His high school yearbook, which he edited, seemed almost prophetic in its title: The Pilot. Advertisement Commander Shinn graduated at age 16, first in his class, and studied aeronautical engineering at North Carolina State College, now a university. He enrolled in a civilian pilot training program, left school to join the Navy in 1942, and received his commission the next year. After World War II, he married Gloria Carter, with whom he had three children: David, Connie, and Diane Shinn. They divorced in 1954. Commander Shinn retired from the Navy in 1963 and settled in Pensacola, where he had been stationed. For years, he made regular visits to the National Naval Aviation Museum, where he was able to visit his restored former plane, the Que Sera Sera, and tell visitors about his flying days. Long after he retired, he continued to dress in military-style flight suits, preferring to avoid fussing over questions of personal appearance and style, according to his family. He remained especially concerned with safety issues, a theme dating back to his Navy days: If he couldn't sit in the pilot's seat as a civilian, he refused to fly at all, preferring to maintain control over maintenance and safety procedures. 'He always had the military demeanor,' his son David said, 'with one dramatic exception. While living in Florida, he developed the moniker Cat Man of La Rua,' after the street where he lived. 'He always had a dozen or two-dozen cats in residence. They'd come to his door, having heard about town that there was this man who would take care of them if he needed help.' Commander Shinn lived in the city until shortly before his death, at a nursing facility in Charlotte. His son confirmed the death but did not cite a specific cause. Survivors include his three children; a sister; a grandson; a great-grandson; and several of his cats, which he re-homed late in life. Asked in the oral history what he was proudest of from his time in the Antarctic, Commander Shinn replied: 'I would guess if I were going to have a tombstone I would put on it, 'He tells it like it is.' There's just no substitute for honesty and integrity.'
Forbes
18 hours ago
- Forbes
Drones Deliver Millions Of Mosquitos to Prevent Bird Extinctions In Hawai‘i
Mosquito 'birth control' delivery efforts mark a major technological advance for conserving critically endangered Hawai'ian honeycreepers. 'Ākohekohe (Palmeria dolei), or crested honeycreeper, is endemic to the island of Maui in Hawaiʻi. ... More The ʻākohekohe is susceptible to mosquito‐transmitted avian malaria and only breeds in high‐elevation wet forests. It is critically endangered with fewer than 2,000 individuals alive today. (Via USFWS / public domain.) In a brilliant demonstration of multidisciplinary collaboration, a conservation program to save Hawai'i's critically endangered native bird species has taken another step forward. After a team of scientists developed sterile male mosquitoes, the next challenge was to safely deliver them to where they would be most effective in Hawai'i. Sterile male mosquitoes are created by infecting them with the bacteria, Wolbachia. This bacteria, which naturally occurs in many wild insect species, interferes with reproduction in mosquitoes by 'sterilizing' the males when introduced into mosquito populations like Aedes aegypti. When sterile male Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes mate with invasive wild female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the resulting eggs cannot be fertilized and thus, cannot hatch, thereby reducing the mosquito population. Wolbachia is a maternally transmitted bacterium, where female Wolbachia-carrying Aedes aegypti pass ... More the bacterium to their offspring, thus generating a stable line of Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes. Rearing this line of mosquitos in captivity allows humans to easily produce large numbers of incompatible male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes for release. (Credit: The National Environment Agency of Singapore / Public Domain) Male mosquitoes (regardless of whether they carry Wolbachia) do not bite or transmit disease, and feed only on plant juices and nectar for survival and energy. On the other hand, female mosquitoes do bite because they need a fresh blood meal to produce eggs. Additionally, because Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes are not genetically modified, and because Wolbachia bacteria naturally occur in 60% or more wild insects, these mosquitoes are safe. Where did these 'sterile' male mosquitoes originate? 'These males are descendants of mosquitoes originally collected from Hawai'i and it has taken multiple mosquito generations to breed up enough IIT mosquitoes to supply the project's needs,' said scientific outreach specialist Emma Shelly, who works as the Outreach Manager with Birds, Not Mosquitoes. This is a multi-agency partnership, spearheaded by the American Bird Conservancy, that is working to protect native Hawaiian honeycreepers from extinction caused by avian diseases, particularly avian malaria, transmitted by invasive mosquitoes. The effort uses the Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT) as a biological 'birth control' method to reduce the spread of mosquito-borne diseases by reducing local mosquito populations by more than 80% (ref). It has been used successfully in a wide range of places and situations around the world to control a variety of mosquito-borne diseases, ranging from dengue fever to malaria. Do free-roaming female mosquitoes prefer to mate with these IIT male mosquitoes? 'So all things being equal, matings would occur at random,' Ms Shelly told me in email. 'But all things aren't equal because the project is heavily skewing the odds in favor of the incompatible males by releasing them in such large numbers that the wild male mosquitoes are overwhelmed. In this scenario, wild females have significantly more opportunities to encounter IIT males and mate with them.' This technique is known as 'overflooding' and the 'overflooding ratio' (how many IIT males it takes to overwhelm wild males in a given area) is a key component of the project. In Hawai'i, that ratio is 10:1. Not only can drones deliver missiles to protect beleaguered civilians from Russian terrorists, but drones can also deliver pods full of IIT male mosquitoes to protect critically endangered Hawai'ian honeycreepers from avian malaria. But the drones used in these biological battles are not the same as those used against Russia, as you might have guessed. 'The drones we use are more common for activities requiring a moderate payload for a drone, like LiDAR, magnetometers, or cinema cameras. They are usually somewhat larger and fly much slower,' Adam Knox, drone pilot and Aerial Deployment of Mosquitoes Project Manager for American Bird Conservancy, told me in email. 'One of the drones we use, the Freefly AltaX is used for movies (can carry a RED Epic or similar) as well as aerial ignition deployment for controlled wildfire burns.' What makes these particular drones particularly well-designed to carry out their mosquito-delivery job? 'The drones needed to have adequate range and endurance to reach the 3000 acre site that extends over mountainous terrain carrying the payload system and then return home, so much of the testing has been focused on demonstrating this,' Mr Knox explained in email. Are these drones guided by autopilot or by humans? 'Both,' Mr Knox replied in email. 'A human pilot flies the aircraft manually during takeoffs and landings to precisely navigate around hazards in the forest, then once above the tree canopy, the aircraft is switched into an autopilot mode which allows it to carry out the preplanned mission as the pilot monitors the flight.' The male mosquitoes are delivered in biodegradable pods. Each drone carries up to 23 mosquito pods in one flight, and each pod contains about 1,000 insects. 'The pods are made of a sterilized biodegradable paper pulp and are not reusable,' Mr Knox explained in email. 'Once released from the air, they fall to the forest floor where they provide protection to the mosquitoes until they're ready to fly away. The pods then begin to break down once exposed to the elements.' A drone carrying a biodegradable mosquito pod, loaded and ready to deliver. (Credit: Adam Knox, ... More image appears here courtesy of the American Bird Conservancy.) This effort is the first known instance of specially-designed mosquito pods being dropped by drones. One of several pod design challenges that had to be met before the drone delivery service could be launched was the pods needed to maintain a controlled temperature. Unlike other insect species that have been released directly from drones in other parts of the world, these male mosquitoes are fragile and require containment in temperature-controlled pods. 'It's extremely exciting to have reached this project milestone,' Mr Knox remarked in email. 'The first drone deployments took place in April 2025. It took a lot of hard work and reliance on strong partnerships to reach the point where we could successfully demonstrate the utility and potential of drone aircraft as a tool for this important work, especially in one of the more challenging environments in the world.' The mosquito deliveries occur over thousands of acres of remote, mountainous terrain that have significant elevational changes, strong winds, and frequent rain. The drones and their release systems had to be tested in these demanding conditions to validate their ability to carry out the basic components of the mission. Can you imagine dropping mosquitoes in this landscape without falling to your death? Aerial view of ... More the rugged terrain, steep walls and waterfalls at Koolau Forest Reserve East Maui, Hawaii. (Credit: Forest and Kim Starr / CC BY 3.0 US) Originally, mosquito deliveries began in 2023 with twice weekly helicopter deployments into remote forests on Maui and Kaua'i, but drone deployments are so much safer for the humans delivering the mosquitoes. 'This opens up a lot of possibilities now and into the future,' Mr Knox pointed out. 'With a drone, we have more flexibility with deployment timing in areas that generally have very unpredictable weather, and it's safer because no humans need to ride in the aircraft as pilot and crew to deploy the mosquitoes.' Your job looks like it's fun. Is it? 'My parents got me a Tyco Wild Thing as my first RC car when I was probably 5 or 6 years old and since then I have been into the RC hobby on and off throughout my life, spanning cars, planes, helicopters and drones,' Mr Knox replied in email. 'To be able to have my professional pursuits overlap with a hobby that brings me joy is something many only dream about so I feel incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to apply this skillset and knowledge toward helping some of the most endangered wildlife on the planet.' "What we're doing is difficult and it has required a lot of long days for dozens of people scattered across the country working together over multiple years now,' Mr Knox replied in email. 'It's been worth every ounce of effort with what we've been able to learn while getting these specialized IIT mosquitoes out into some of the most challenging landscapes imaginable in order to give these birds a fighting chance at recovery.' Even as these IIT mosquitoes are being delivered to their targets, are there other conservation efforts ongoing? 'Yes, there are,' Mr Knox replied in email. 'The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has two facilities in Hawai'i where small populations of several endangered bird species are being kept and captively bred. The sooner mosquitoes are suppressed, the sooner these critically endangered birds can be returned to the wild and begin to re-establish themselves.' Whilst the IIT mosquito effort is currently the best tool we have for controlling invasive disease-carrying mosquitoes, it works hand in hand with other conservation efforts being led on the ground by Birds, Not Mosquitoes partners, including habitat restoration and invasive species and predator control. A critially endangered Hawai'ian Kiwikiu (Pseudonestor xanthophrys) or hookbilled honeycreeper. ... More There are fewer than 200 of these birds remaining. (Credit: Robby Kohley, image appears here courtesy of the American Bird Conservancy.) The mosquito, Aedes aegypti, was initially introduced to the Hawaiian Islands sometime after 1882 by whaling ships, so any ecological role these insects may fill either as prey or pollinators is a recent development. Which is another way to say that it is extremely unlikely that any native bird species has become dependent upon them as a critical food resource. But this invasive mosquito species is quite efficient at transmitting a variety of debilitating diseases to humans, such as dengue, chikugunya, Zika virus, and malaria, just to name a few. Originally, the Aedes aegypti mosquito was restricted to Hawai'i's lower elevations, which allowed some of Hawai'i's honeycreepers to live at higher elevations and thus survive. However, climate change has allowed mosquitoes to expand their range upwards, so now all of Hawai'i's remaining native bird species are in danger of vanishing forever. 'Without significantly reducing invasive mosquito populations, multiple native bird species will disappear forever in the near future,' said Chris Farmer, the American Bird Conservancy's Hawai'i Program Director. How many native Hawai'ian bird species have been driven extinct by avian malaria so far? 'At least 33 species of honeycreeper are now extinct, and many of the 17 that remain, including the Kiwikiu and ʻĀkohekohe on Maui, and ʻAkekeʻe on Kauaʻi, are highly endangered,' Dr Farmer replied. 'Last year, the ʻAkikiki became functionally extinct in the wild, and mosquitoes could cause other species to quickly decline and vanish if no action is taken.' The ʻakikiki (Oreomystis bairdi), also called the Kauaʻi creeper, is now functionally extinct, ... More thanks to avian malaria spread by invasive mosquitoes. (Credit: Robby Kohley, image appears here courtesy of American Bird Conservancy.) 'Reducing invasive mosquito populations is absolutely critical in preventing the extinction of Hawai'i's vulnerable honeycreepers,' Dr Farmer continued. 'We have the technology to break the avian disease cycle in Hawai'i, and a fighting chance to restore populations. We are the generation that can save honeycreepers like Maui's Kiwikiu, and with a population of less than 150 individuals, these drone and mosquito suppression advancements have come just in time.' I highly recommend that you watch this moving video, Vanishing Voices, which shows how ABC is working with its Birds, Not Mosquitoes partners to prevent the extinction of the iconic native bird species in Hawai'i. This wonderful, hopeful video shares the gorgeous songs of these vanishing birds. © Copyright by GrrlScientist | hosted by Forbes | Socials: Bluesky | CounterSocial | LinkedIn | Mastodon Science | MeWe | Spoutible | SubStack | Threads | Tumblr | Twitter
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Yahoo
Officials unleash surprising new weapon in fight against deadly mosquitoes in US: 'There's now evidence that it can be incorporated'
Officials in Southern California have come up with a plan to control an invasive mosquito species and the diseases they spread, the Los Angeles Times reported. Scientists at local vector districts – agencies responsible for controlling disease-carrying species – applied a technique that's been used on invasive insects since the 1950s. In 2023, one vector district released thousands of sterile male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes across select neighborhoods to study the effects, according to the LA Times. The results were clear. Populations of the species diminished by 33% in one year. The Aedes aegypti, also known as the yellow fever mosquito, is believed to have originated in sub-Saharan Africa. These bugs can only fly about 150 to 200 yards, but manage to travel internationally on freight ships and other methods of trade. They're considered invasive to other regions because they transmit diseases like yellow fever, dengue, and the Zika virus. Aedes aegypti are distributed primarily across tropical and subtropical areas throughout the world. But the black-and-white striped mosquitoes have now invaded the southern United States and, because of the planet's overheating, are moving to the north and west. Right now, the mosquitoes are present in more than a third of all counties in California. The idea behind the mission is simple. Male mosquitoes don't bite, and therefore can't spread disease to humans. Females are the primary culprits there. When the sterile males are released, the mosquitoes can still mate, but the females lay unfertilized eggs that don't hatch, decreasing the population size. Vector district officials found that releasing sterile male mosquitoes into the environment was incredibly effective. Last year, a local vector control agency for part of Los Angeles County began releasing 1,000 sterile males bi-weekly, bumping the numbers to 3,000 during peak season from August to November. "Many medium to smaller districts are now interested to use our approach," Solomon Birhanie, scientific director for West Valley Vector Control, told the LA Times. "Because there's now evidence that it can be incorporated into abatement programs without the need for hiring highly skilled personnel or demanding a larger amount of budget." Should we be actively working to kill invasive species? Absolutely It depends on the species I don't know No — leave nature alone Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
