Allie Ciaramella

Senior Editor, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences

@alliegrasgreen

Allie Ciaramella, based in Key Largo, Florida, is the senior editor for Life Sciences and Physical Sciences at The Academic Times. Prior to that, Allie worked at Inside Higher Ed and POLITICO as a higher education reporter, and was communications manager at the National College Attainment Network. Allie studied journalism and environmental studies at the University of Oregon.

Sediment could smother baby corals as reef waters warm

By Allie Ciaramella
Baby corals will have more trouble replenishing the world’s largest reef in anticipated hotter climates unless water-quality guidelines are adjusted to manage deadly human-generated sediment, researchers recently found.

Fruit fly study nails culprits of neural ‘bystander effect’

By Allie Ciaramella
Scientists in Oregon discovered the process behind a “bystander effect” phenomenon through which traumatic brain injury or disease can result in otherwise healthy nearby neurons temporarily shutting down and impairing nervous system function.

Overfishing slashes shark, ray counts by 70%

By Allie Ciaramella
The number of sharks and rays roaming the world’s open seas and oceans plummeted by 71% during the half-century ending in 2018, according to an unprecedented global analysis indicating that overfishing pushed three-quarters of the ecosystem-balancing species toward extinction.

Hotter sands could mean more female offspring for endangered sea turtles

By Allie Ciaramella
It's possible that endangered sea turtle hatchlings born on important coastlines of the Red Sea are now mostly female, according to new research, and climate change is poised to push scorching nesting-site temperatures even higher.

New finding on what stops plant root growth in compact soils may help farmers boost yields

By Allie Ciaramella
An international team of researchers discovered a plant signal that causes roots to stop growing in hard soils but can be disabled to allow them to break through, potentially enabling new crop growth in damaged and compacted soils that can reduce agricultural output by half and cause significant losses each year.

Forests are hitting their limit for carbon intake

By Allie Ciaramella
Plants’ ability to keep absorbing close to one-third of human-caused carbon emissions could be slashed in half by 2040, as forests and other land ecosystems start releasing more carbon than they store, according to the first study to identify a photosynthesis “temperature tipping point” based on on-site data from around the world.

Bacteria-eating viruses conquer antibiotic resistance in critical-priority superbug

By Allie Ciaramella
Scientists in Australia have figured out how to cripple an antibiotic-resistant superbug that's responsible for up to one in five bacterial infections in intensive care units by using bacteriophage viruses. 

Lasting ‘lake heatwaves’ imperil ecosystems

By Allie Ciaramella
As the climate changes, lakes are on track to experience lengthier and more severe periods of extreme warm surface temperatures by the end of the century, novel research published Wednesday shows, with some even projected to reach a “permanent heatwave state” that could alter entire ecosystems and imperil the economic benefits they provide.

CBD doesn't impair driving, clinical trial finds

By Allie Ciaramella
Participants who vaped a standard dose of CBD-dominant cannabis did not exhibit impaired driving in a recent study measuring the effects of the less-examined cannabidiol compound found in marijuana.

Beaver dams could help mountain-dwelling amphibians survive climate change

By Allie Ciaramella
The gradual recovery of once-abundant Pacific Northwest beavers may be crucial not just to the state animal of Oregon but also to certain types of slow-developing amphibians that require the unique habitats created by beaver dams, according to new research.

Threatened seagrass helps trap, remove plastic waste

By Allie Ciaramella
Plastic debris that mysteriously returns from the shallow ocean floor to the coastal shoreline may be hitching a ride on uniquely capable but long-deteriorating Mediterranean seagrass meadows, according to a study published Thursday in Scientific Reports.

College campuses can be superspreaders, but they don't have to be

By Allie Ciaramella
As higher education institutions continue to weigh welcoming students back to campus next term, a study published Wednesday in Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering suggests colleges that take the right precautions can reopen safely amid the pandemic despite experiencing “an extreme incidence” of COVID-19 in the initial weeks of fall classes that also impacted surrounding communities.