Janet Raloff

Janet Raloff

Editor, Digital, Science News Explores

Editor Janet Raloff has been a part of the Science News Media Group since 1977. While a staff writer at Science News, she covered the environment, toxicology, energy, science policy, agriculture and nutrition. She was among the first to give national visibility to such issues as electromagnetic pulse weaponry and hormone-mimicking pollutants, and was the first anywhere to report on the widespread tainting of streams and groundwater sources with pharmaceuticals. A founding board member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, her writing has won awards from groups including the National Association of Science Writers. In July 2007, while still writing for Science News, Janet took over Science News Explores (then known as Science News for Kids) as a part-time responsibility. Over the next six years, she expanded the magazine's depth, breadth and publication cycle. Since 2013, she also oversaw an expansion of its staffing from three part-timers to a full-time staff of four and a freelance staff of some 35 other writers and editors. Before joining Science News, Janet was managing editor of Energy Research Reports (outside Boston), a staff writer at Chemistry (an American Chemical Society magazine) and a writer/editor for Chicago's Adler Planetarium. Initially an astronomy major, she earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University (with an elective major in physics).

All Stories by Janet Raloff

  1. Ecosystems

    Cultivating Weeds

    Some formerly mild-mannered plants turn into horticultural bullies when planted far outside their native range.

  2. Health & Medicine

    A Make-Time-For-Sex Diet?

    We’re slaves to our hormones. Teenagers and pregnant women are experts on that topic. Both ride an emotional roller coaster as their bodies produce vacillating amounts of sex hormones. In fact, behind the scenes of all human biology–from conception to death–a delicate interplay of hormones drives everything from the expression of our gender to regulation […]

  3. Health & Medicine

    Another Way Saturated Fats Can Hike Heart Risks

    Physicians and health columnists have been exhorting the public for years to pare saturated fats from the diet. Numerous studies have linked heavy consumption of these fats to elevated cholesterol, a major risk factor for heart disease. Now, Johns Hopkins University researchers tie high-saturated-fat diets to a second risk factor for cardiovascular disease: abdominal fat. […]

  4. Health & Medicine

    Passive smoking may foster kids’ cavities

    Young children exposed to tobacco smoke face a greatly elevated risk of developing cavities in their baby teeth.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Cranberry Juice—A Cocktail for the Heart

    Chemist Joe Vinson has a passion for foods and the potentially beneficial antioxidants they bring to the dinner table. Cranberry-juice cocktail contains just 27 percent berry juice but still is the second-most potent source of antioxidants among popular fruit juices. Cranberry Institute Three years ago, for instance, he reported data showing that molecule for molecule, […]

  6. Earth

    When do EMFs disturb the heart?

    Whether electromagnetic fields can blunt the healthy variability in heart rate may depend on an exposed individual being aroused or stressed during exposure.

  7. Earth

    Methylmercury’s toxic toll

    More than 60,000 children are born each year with neurodevelopmental impairments due to their prenatal exposure to methylmercury.

  8. Earth

    China: A mercury megapolluter

    China's heavy reliance on coal burning makes it a world leader in mercury air pollution.

  9. Earth

    Living routes to toxic routs

    Scientists are developing novel techniques for removing perchlorate, a potentially carcinogenic pollutant, from water.

  10. Agriculture

    Detoxifying Desert’s Manna

    Farmers need no longer fear the sweet pea's dryland cousin.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Perk Up Food Flavors with. . .Black Plastic? (with pesto recipe)

    Pesto, a zesty sauce for pasta and spread for crusty breads, typically derives much of its flavor from basil. The fresher this herb, the richer the pesto’s flavor–which is why many people with a pesto passion keep a basil patch outside the kitchen door. USDA scientists compare the yield and quality of identical crop cultivars […]

  12. Health & Medicine

    Soy Land, Soy Land

    Field of soy in the American Midwest. Having grown up in the heart of the Corn Belt, I can remember childhood visits to kin requiring car rides for hours past fields planted with razor-sharp rows of maize. Even as a preschooler, it was reassuring because I could relate to corn. It was that delicious stuff […]