Wednesday, July 16, 2025

What does it cost an animal to fight?

Cell Press

image:
Lithobates catesbeianus
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Credit: Randy Dzenkiw

How do animals decide when to fight and when to walk, fly, slither, or swim away? Most research on animal conflict has focused on the short-term costs of single interactions, but a pair of behavioral ecologists argue that these one-time events might paint an incomplete picture. In an opinion paper publishing July 16 in the Cell Press journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, the researchers say that to really understand the consequences of animal conflict, we need to also consider its long-term and cumulative impact on an individual’s longevity and reproduction.

“By linking individual contests to lifetime reproductive success, we can understand how different contexts and environmental situations could favor the evolution of decision strategies in different species,” says author and ecologist Paulo Enrique Cardoso Peixoto of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil.

Contests are ubiquitous across the animal kingdom, note the authors. In many cases, these fights are symbolic and may or may not involve physical contact, but they can deplete energy reserves, and in some cases result in physical injury and death. Usually, animals engage in contests when competing for a resource such as food, shelter, territory, or mating partners. Since contests have the potential to result in both benefits and costs, scientists have long thought that different species must have evolved strategies for deciding whether to fight, and if they do fight, when to quit.

The researchers say that the optimal conflict strategy would vary depending on the species and situation. For example, the potential benefits might outweigh the risks for very valuable resources, but for less important resources, individuals might be better off abstaining, especially if they are unlikely to win. They also note that some costs carry more weight than others.

“If snapping shrimp lose a claw during a fight, it can regrow, so it’s not a total loss because they can recover and fight subsequent contests,” says Peixoto. “But, if a beetle breaks a horn during a fight, it will not regrow, so that individual will be unable to fight again, and since they often fight for female access, this means they will be unable to reproduce anymore.”

To examine how costs have been characterized and quantified previously, the researchers conducted a systematic review of field and laboratory studies. From 73 articles spanning 62 animal species, they identified 24 different types of cost, which they grouped into six categories: increased metabolism, increased stress and decreased immune response, increased risk of injury and mortality, decreased foraging opportunities, decreased predator awareness, and decreased investment in parental care.

They found that researchers studying different types of animal tend to measure different types of cost, which makes it difficult to compare findings. For example, studies in crustaceans and fishes were more likely to measure metabolic costs, whereas studies in insects usually measured direct injuries.

“There is huge variation in the measurements researchers take,” says Peixoto. “Variation is not a bad thing, but the lack of standardization in the way we do this precludes us from estimating whether there is an average cost between different species, or investigating the variation among species.”

In many cases, the researchers argue, the costs measured are not the most relevant for understanding the consequences of contests. They also rarely extend beyond measuring the short-term consequences of isolated incidents.

“We need to link the average cost in a single contest to the individual’s longevity or lifetime reproductive success,” says Peixoto. “For example, are there contexts that favor individuals that always fight and are more aggressive, and other situations that favor more cautious individuals that only fight weaker rivals to increase their chances of winning?”

To link short- and long-term costs, the researchers propose a three-step process, starting with identifying the most important cost for the species they’re studying. The next step is measuring how this cost accumulates during a single contest, relative to the animal’s baseline. Finally, the team recommends linking this single-contest data to long-term data on how frequently different individuals fight, and how many offspring frequent and non-frequent fighters produce.

“By knowing the average number of fights that different individuals are involved in and their lifespans, we can estimate whether individuals who fight more or less have better lifetime reproductive success,” says Peixoto. “This connection would allow us to gain deeper insights into the evolutionary dynamics of animal contests and the trade-offs individuals face.”

Philaeus chrysops

Credit

Anatoly Ozernoy

This research was supported by funding from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico.

Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Peixoto et al., “What we (don’t) know about costs in animal contests” https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(25)00153-3

Trends in Ecology & Evolution (@Trends_Ecol_Evo), published by Cell Press, is a monthly review journal that contains polished, concise, and readable reviews and opinion pieces in all areas of ecology and evolutionary science. It aims to keep scientists informed of new developments and ideas across the full range of ecology and evolutionary biology—from the pure to the applied, and from molecular to global. Visit http://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution. To receive Cell Press media alerts, please contact press@cell.com.

Journal

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

DOI

10.1016/j.tree.2025.05.008

Method of Research

Systematic review

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

What we (don’t) know about costs in animal contests

Article Publication Date

16-Jul-2025

Why some elephants take more risks around people than others

CUNY Graduate Center researchers found that wild elephants closer to farms are more curious around and attracted to new objects — insights that may help reduce human-elephant conflict

The Graduate Center, CUNY

Elephant Foraging — image:
A Thai elephant checks out a cattle brush in an experiment showing that elephants living near farms are more interested in exploring unfamiliar objects — a curiosity that may put them in harm’s way.
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Credit: Sarah Jacobson

Elephants that live near farms are more daring than their deep-forest counterparts, and that behavior could be the key to helping people and elephants get along.

That’s the central finding of new research by CUNY Graduate Center alumna Sarah Jacobson (Ph.D. ’24, Psychology), published in Royal Society Open Science. Working with Professor Joshua Plotnik (GC/Hunter, Psychology), Jacobson found that wild elephants on the edge of agricultural land in Thailand were more curious and exploratory when presented with unfamiliar objects than elephants living in protected forests.

The paper is a chapter of Jacobson’s dissertation, completed under Plotnik’s mentorship. By showing how elephants’ behavior shifts across different landscapes, the study adds important insight into how wild animals adapt to human-dominated environments and why some may take more risks than others.

“Understanding why some elephants are more willing to take risks to engage with humans in habitats where they share food and other resources may help in the development of more effective conflict mitigation methods,” said Plotnik, who directs the Comparative Cognition for Conservation Lab at Hunter College.

“We conducted this study because we wanted to learn more about how individual elephants differ,” Jacobson said. “We were interested in the characteristics of those elephants who are leaving the forest to spend time close to people, which can cause a lot of problems.”

The study compared elephant responses to new objects — such as cattle brushes and firehoses — in two different settings: a remote forest sanctuary and a landscape adjacent to farmland. The elephants living near people were more likely to investigate and interact with the objects, showing higher levels of what researchers call neophilia, or attraction to novelty.

This behavior may give those elephants an edge in finding high-calorie resources like crops, but it also increases the risk of dangerous encounters with humans. As elephants lose habitat to development, they often seek food in villages and fields, leading to conflict with local communities.

Jacobson also explored whether curiosity and exploration were stable personality traits in elephants by comparing individual responses to multiple objects. But too few elephants encountered both objects to draw firm conclusions about consistency in behavior.

Still, the findings offer a powerful glimpse into how animal behavior is shaped by the environment. They suggest that individual differences in curiosity may help elephants adapt, but at a cost.

The research builds on Plotnik’s long-standing work at the intersection of animal cognition and conservation. His lab aims to translate scientific understanding of animal minds into practical tools for protecting endangered species like the Asian elephant. Work conducted by the lab was recently featured on CBS’s 60 Minutes in a segment about human-elephant conflict in Thailand.

“I feel fortunate to have been able to work on a research project that can help both people and elephants as part of my dissertation at the Graduate Center,” Jacobson said. “I look forward to seeing more results from the Comparative Cognition for Conservation Lab’s research about elephant personality traits and the current work to integrate this behavioral knowledge into novel ways to reduce negative interactions between elephants and people.”

This work was funded, in part, by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Asian Elephant Conservation Fund, the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, and the Research Foundation of CUNY.

Journal

Royal Society Open Science

DOI

10.1098/rsos.250896

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Wild elephants vary in their attraction to novelty across an anthropogenic landscape gradient

Article Publication Date

16-Jul-2025

How a tiny gene ensures the survival of male birds

Researchers from Heidelberg and Edinburgh identify a mechanism that balances the genetic disparity between sex chromosomes

Heidelberg University

Male-specific microRNA in birds — image:
Recent studies on the genetic differences between bird sex chromosomes reveal a tiny gene crucial for male survival.
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Credit: © Nils Trost, Sara Yousefi Taemeh

Birds have developed a unique evolutionary solution to ensure the survival of males – a powerful microRNA. This tiny gene allows male embryos to survive despite a genetic imbalance between the sexes by balancing the activity of the sex chromosomes. An international research team led by biologists from Heidelberg University and the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) has discovered this previously unknown mechanism, which differs significantly from the system that mammals have developed in the course of evolution to address the same biological challenge.

Sex chromosomes, which determine whether an individual is male or female, originated from an ordinary pair of chromosomes. In mammals, females carry two X chromosomes, while males have one X and one Y chromosome. In contrast, male birds have two Z chromosomes, and female birds have one Z and one W chromosome. Over time, the Y chromosome in mammals and the W in birds lost most of their genes due to their highly specialized sex-specific roles, meaning one sex retains two copies of most genes while the other has only one. Mammals compensate for this genetic imbalance by boosting the activity of the X chromosome in both sexes and “silencing” one of the two X chromosomes in females.

Using chickens as an example, the international research team has now demonstrated how birds resolve this issue. The loss of genetic material on the female-specific W chromosome is offset by increased activity of key genes on the Z chromosome. While this is vital for the survival of female birds, it leads to genetic overactivity in males with two Z chromosomes, resulting in growth defects if left unbalanced. The researchers, led by Prof. Dr Henrik Kaessmann (Heidelberg University) and Dr Mike McGrew (University of Edinburgh), suspected that a previously discovered microRNA – a short regulatory ribonucleic acid – plays a crucial role in this process.

“This microRNA is predominantly active in male birds, which led us to assume that it helps balance the activity of the Z chromosome,” explains Prof. Kaessmann, who conducts research at the Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH). To test their hypothesis, the researchers used gene editing to remove the microRNA and studied the effects during early chicken development. While male embryos could not survive without the microRNA, females developed normally. According to the researchers, the same tiny gene is found in all bird species examined thus far, but not in other animals. “It is the only known microRNA that is essential for the survival of one sex, but not the other,” says Dr Amir Fallahshahroudi, former postdoc in Prof. Kaessmann’s team at the ZMBH and current group leader at Uppsala University in Sweden.

According to Dr McGrew, the mechanism of the male-specific microRNA works like a dimmer switch, dialing down the overactive genes on the two male Z chromosomes. “Our findings show that birds have developed a distinct evolutionary solution to offset the genetic imbalance between sex chromosomes and ensure the survival of male animals,” he emphasizes. They also highlight that evolution can arrive at different solutions for the same biological problem – and that tiny genes can have a dramatic impact on survival. “We now have to ask whether other animal species also use microRNAs to regulate their sex chromosomes, or whether they rely on different systems entirely,” adds Prof. Kaessmann.

Alongside the researchers from Heidelberg, Edinburgh and Uppsala, scientists from Abu Dhabi and China were also involved in the study. This research was funded by various organizations and foundations, including the European Research Council, the NOMIS Foundation, the Swedish Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (UK). The results have been published in the journal “Nature”.

Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-025-09256-9

Article Title

A male-essential miRNA is key for avian sex chromosome dosage compensation

Article Publication Date

16-Jul-2025

Battery sharing could cut energy costs for communities

As solar and wind use grows, study offers cost-effective solution for local energy storage

Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica

Battery storage of wind generated elektricity — image:
Graphic of a battery storing elektricity generated by a wind turbine.
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Credit: CWI

What if neighbourhoods could lower their electricity bills without investing in expensive battery systems? An international study led by researchers at CWI (the national research institute for mathematics and computer science in the Netherlands) suggests exactly that: by leasing capacity from large, commercially operated batteries, communities can access the benefits of energy storage without the high upfront costs or additional technical challenges.

In collaboration with GIGA Storage, a leading operator of grid-connected batteries in the Netherlands, the University of Glasgow (UK) and Princeton University (US), the researchers developed a method to determine how much battery capacity energy communities should rent, and at what price, so that both the community and the battery operator gain financially. Their approach was tested using real-world data from a community of 200 homes equipped with a wind turbine. They showed that considerable savings are possible, even after subtracting the battery rental costs.

Storing excess power

The research comes at a time when rooftop solar panels and small wind turbines are increasingly common in residential areas, but many households struggle to store excess power for later use. Meanwhile, commercial battery operators are looking for stable revenue streams in volatile energy markets. This study proposes a solution that benefits both sides.

The core idea is simple: a battery operator rents out a portion of its large grid-connected battery to an energy community. That battery stores energy when prices are low and releases it when demand (and prices) rise. The researchers developed a mathematical model to find the “sweet spot”: how much capacity to rent out and when to charge or discharge, depending on market prices, tariffs, and community energy demand.

Reducing battery degradation

Importantly, the team also tackled a practical challenge: how to control a grid-connected battery without wearing it out. Professor Valentin Robu, leading investigator of the project, explains: ““Our work explores a number of techniques for modifying linear optimization algorithms. The goal is to increase long-term financial gains from using the battery capacity, while reducing the number of charge/discharge cycles, which can lead to a reduction of the battery’s remaining useful lifetime.”

The method was tested using both battery data from GIGA Storage and energy demand and wind generation data from the UK and the Netherlands. The approach is designed to be applicable in different countries, market settings and community models. It is a step forward in allowing energy communities to use more of their own locally generated renewable energy, increasing the financial viability of community energy projects, and reducing dependence on big utility companies.

About the study

The full study, Optimal sizing and control of a grid-connected battery in a stacked revenue model including an energy community, was recently published in the journal Applied Energy (DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.126122). Authors are affiliated with the Intelligent and Autonomous Systems Group from CWI (Tudor Octavian Pocola and Valentin Robu), and also with Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, Princeton University (USA), and University of Glasgow (UK).

Funding

This research was supported by the EU-funded TESTBED-2 project under the Marie Curie Staff Exchange Programme (MSCA-RISE). The collaboration with GIGA Storage was also supported by a knowledge voucher from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, a government subsidy instrument that supports collaboration between businesses and research institutes.

Journal

Applied Energy

DOI

10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.126122

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Optimal sizing and control of a grid-connected battery in a stacked revenue model including an energy community

Article Publication Date

1-Nov-2025

COI Statement

Living near St. Louis-area Coldwater Creek during childhood linked with higher risk of cancer from radiation

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Boston, MA—Living near Coldwater Creek—a Missouri River tributary north of St. Louis that was polluted by nuclear waste from the development of the first atomic bomb—in childhood in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s was associated with an elevated risk of cancer, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The researchers say the findings corroborate health concerns long held by community members.

The study will be published July 16 in JAMA Network Open. It coincides with Congress having passed an expanded version of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) as part of the Trump tax bill, through which Americans, including Coldwater Creek residents, can receive compensation for medical bills associated with radiation exposure.

Most studies of radiation exposure have focused on bomb survivors who have had very high levels of exposure; far less is known about the health impacts of lower levels of radiation exposure.

For this study, the researchers used a subsample of 4,209 participants from the St. Louis Baby Tooth – Later Life Health Study (SLBT), a cohort composed of many individuals who lived near Coldwater Creek as children and who donated their baby teeth beginning in 1958 to measure exposure to radiation from atmospheric nuclear testing. The participants, who lived in the Greater St. Louis area between 1958 and 1972, self-reported incidences of cancer, allowing the researchers to calculate cancer risk in accordance with childhood residence proximity to Coldwater Creek.

The findings showed a dose-response effect—those living nearest to the creek had a higher risk for most cancers than those living farther away. There were 1,009 individuals (24% of the study population) who reported having cancer. Of those, the proportion was higher for those living near the creek—30% lived less than one kilometer away, 28% between one and five kilometers away, 25% between five and 20 kilometers away, and 24% 20 kilometers or more away).

The researchers estimated that those living more than 20 kilometers away from the creek had a 24% risk of any type of cancer. Compared to this group, among those who lived less than one kilometer away from the creek, the risk of developing any type of cancer was 44% higher; solid cancers (cancers that form a mass, as opposed to blood cancers), 52% higher; radiosensitive cancers (thyroid, breast, leukemia, and basal cell), 85% higher; and non-radiosensitive cancers (all except thyroid, breast, leukemia, and basal cell), 41% higher. The risk went down among those who lived between one and 5 kilometers away from the creek, and then down a little more among those who lived 5-20 kilometers away, but was still slightly higher than those living more than 20 kilometers away.

“Our research indicates that the communities around North St. Louis appear to have had excess cancer from exposure to the contaminated Coldwater Creek,” said corresponding author Marc Weisskopf, Cecil K. and Philip Drinker Professor of Environmental Epidemiology and Physiology. “These findings may have broader implications—as countries think about increasing nuclear power and developing more nuclear weapons, the waste from these entities could have huge impacts on people’s health, even at these lower levels of exposure.”

Other Harvard Chan School authors included Michael Leung, Ian Tang, Joyce Lin, Lorelei Mucci, Justin Farmer, and Kaleigh McAlaine.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (R01ES031943, P42ES030990, P30ES000002 and T32ES007069).

"Cancer Incidence and Childhood Residence Near the Coldwater Creek Radioactive Waste Site,” Michael Leung, Ian W. Tang, Joyce J.Y. Lin, Lorelei Mucci, Justin G. Farmer, Kaleigh McAlaine, Joseph J. Mangano, Marc. G. Weisskopf, JAMA Network Open, July 16, 2025, doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.21926

Visit the Harvard Chan School website for the latest news and events from our Studio.

###

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is a community of innovative scientists, practitioners, educators, and students dedicated to improving health and advancing equity so all people can thrive. We research the many factors influencing health and collaborate widely to translate those insights into policies, programs, and practices that prevent disease and promote well-being for people around the world. We also educate thousands of public health leaders a year through our degree programs, postdoctoral training, fellowships, and continuing education courses. Founded in 1913 as America’s first professional training program in public health, the School continues to have an extraordinary impact in fields ranging from infectious disease to environmental justice to health systems and beyond.

Journal

JAMA Network Open

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.21926

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Cancer Incidence and Childhood Residence Near the Coldwater Creek Radioactive Waste Site

Article Publication Date

16-Jul-2025

COI Statement

Dr Mucci reported equity interest in Convergent Therapeutics, a radiopharmaceutical oncology company, and consulting for Bayer Pharmaceuticals outside the conduct of the study. No other disclosures were reported.

Westinghouse, Google aim to speed up reactor construction with AI

Wednesday, 16 July 2025

World Nuclear News

Westinghouse has announced it is to collaborate with Google Cloud to use artificial intelligence tools to streamline construction of new nuclear plants and enhance the operations of existing nuclear power plants.

Westinghouse, Google aim to speed up reactor construction with AI — Westinghouse's vision of an AP300 plant (Image: Westinghouse)

In September last year, Westinghouse introduced the HiVE System - a generative artificial intelligence system built on more than 75 years of proprietary data, knowledge and expertise. The system features a Nuclear Large Language Model AI System named bertha, after Bertha Lamme who was the first woman in the US to receive a mechanical engineering degree - in 1893 - and then became the first female engineer hired by Westinghouse. According to Westinghouse, these nuclear-specific AI solutions will optimise new nuclear deployment of its AP1000 reactor, AP300 small modular reactors and eVinci microreactor technologies.

Under its agreement with Google Cloud, the two companies will pair Westinghouse's HiVE and bertha nuclear AI solutions with Google Cloud technologies and expertise to "transform the construction of advanced Westinghouse nuclear reactors into an efficient, repeatable process and enhance the operations of existing nuclear power plants using data-driven insights".

"As the only fully licensed, construction-ready modular reactor available today, our AP1000 technology is the quickest way to add new sources of affordable and abundant nuclear energy to the US grid," said Westinghouse Interim Chief Executive Officer Dan Sumner. "By partnering with Google Cloud to enhance our HiVE and bertha technology, and backed by 75 years of our proprietary nuclear data, we can accelerate the deployment of new AP1000 units while implementing powerful AI technologies that will optimise the construction and operations of nuclear power plants."

"This partnership with Westinghouse combines Google Cloud's AI technologies and expertise with Westinghouse's century-long expertise in nuclear innovation to chart a new path towards a smarter and safer future," said Kyle Jessen, Managing Director, Commercial Industries, Google Cloud. "Artificial intelligence is not merely a tool; it can give companies a critical competitive advantage. Westinghouse is demonstrating what's possible."

As part of this collaboration, Westinghouse and Google Cloud have successfully achieved a first-of-a-kind proof of concept leveraging Westinghouse's WNEXUS digital plant design platform and HiVE artificial intelligence enhanced by Google Cloud technologies, including Vertex AI, Gemini and BigQuery, to autonomously generate and optimise AP1000 modular construction work packages.

Idaho National Laboratory collaborates with Microsoft to streamline nuclear licensing

DOE/Idaho National Laboratory

(IDAHO FALLS, Idaho) — The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) have announced a collaboration to use Microsoft’s Azure cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to streamline the nuclear permitting and licensing application process.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy through the National Reactor Innovation Center provided funding for the project.

“This is a big deal for the nuclear licensing process,” said Jess Gehin, associate laboratory director for Nuclear Science and Technology at Idaho National Laboratory. “Introducing AI technologies will enhance efficiency and accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies.”

INL will leverage a Microsoft-developed solution built with Azure AI services to generate engineering and safety analysis reports, which are standard reports submitted as a part of applications for construction permits and operating licenses for nuclear power plants.

For reactor developers, generating these large, detailed reports is typically a time-consuming and expensive process that requires compiling safety data and language from multiple sources. The Azure AI-powered solution will help streamline and accelerate the review process.

The technology is designed to ingest and analyze nuclear engineering and safety documents, and generate documentation required by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and DOE for nuclear licensing.

The tool does not perform analyses on the documents but rather automates the process of constructing licensing documents for subsequent human verification.

“Artificial intelligence technologies can enable a new frontier of innovation and advancement by automating routine processes, accelerating development and freeing scientists and researchers to focus on the real complex challenges affecting our society,” said Heidi Kobylski, vice president for Federal Civilian Agencies, Microsoft. “We are honored to collaborate with INL to help address the complicated process of nuclear licensing to potentially help speed the approval of nuclear reactors necessary to support our increasing energy demands.”

The tool has wide applicability for nuclear energy-related licensing, including new light water reactors and upgrades to existing light water reactors. The Azure AI-powered solution could be especially useful for licensing advanced reactors, which often have different designs, fuels, coolants and materials than the conventional reactors typically reviewed by the NRC. The technology can generate reports for any nuclear facility licensed through NRC or DOE authorization, including nuclear energy test facilities.

“AI holds significant potential to accelerate the process to design, license, and deploy new nuclear energy for the nation’s increasing energy needs,” said Chris Ritter, division director of Scientific Computing and AI at INL. “INL looks forward to early research to evaluate the applicability of generative AI in the nuclear licensing space.”

The latest AI tool is not the first collaboration between INL and Microsoft. In 2023, INL and Idaho State University (ISU) nuclear engineering students developed the world’s first nuclear reactor digital twin — a virtual replica of ISU’s AGN-201 reactor — using the company’s Azure cloud computing platform.

NEWS MEDIA CONTACTS:

Sarah Neumann, 208-526-0490, sarah.neumann@inl.gov
Addison Arave, 208-526-7369, addison.arave@inl.gov