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

    New protection for much-dogged shark

    To rebuild northeastern U.S. populations of the spiny dogfish, the first fishing quotas on this species limit the harvest to roughly 10 percent of the 1998 haul.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Challenges in testing for West Nile virus

    The Food and Drug Administration is trying to figure out how blood banks can detect signs of West Nile infection in blood donors and, eventually, test donated blood for the virus itself.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Panel ups RDAs for some antioxidants

    An Institute of Medicine panel reported that dietary antioxidants such as vitamins A and E can limit cellular damage from free radicals but warned that studies in people have never adequately established a direct connection between antioxidant consumption and prevention of chronic disease.

  4. Health & Medicine

    The New GI Tracts

    For preventing heart disease, diets that control insulin are all the buzz.

  5. Earth

    Gasoline additive’s going, but far from gone

    As the federal government proposes phasing out the gasoline additive MTBE, scientists explore ways to remove this potential carcinogen from drinking-water supplies that it has tainted throughout the nation.

  6. Ecosystems

    State of U.S. Agro-ecosystems

    About one-quarter of the United States’ land cover, excluding Alaska, is farmed–some 430 million to 500 million acres. A massive new project has just assessed this and other food-producing environments, such as coastal waters, fresh waters, and rangelands, to tally factors contributing to health. Released on Sept. 24, it indicates that most ecosystems are undergoing […]

  7. Health & Medicine

    Another Polio? Alarming West Nile fever risks emerge

    Medical workers have found poliolike symptoms in a few victims of West Nile fever, and federal officials noted that blood transfusions appear to have infected some people.

  8. Earth

    More Waters Test Positive for Drugs

    Traces of drugs, excreted by people and livestock, pollute surface and ground waters in the United States, as had already been confirmed in Europe.

  9. Agriculture

    Toxic bugs taint large numbers of cattle

    U.S. cattle have dramatically higher rates of infection with a virulent food-poisoning bacterium than had been realized, a factor that leads to widespread carcass contamination during slaughter.

  10. Agriculture

    A Dairy Solution to Mildew Woes

    Milk may prove the savior of some organic wines. Gray areas on these untreated grapes at Temple Bruer Wines reflect heavy powdery mildew damage. The grapes show splitting and “are useless,” notes Peter Crisp. Crisp This vine, treated with whey sprays, shows minimal mildew. Its grapes are acceptable for winemaking. Crisp This milk-sprayed vine also […]

  11. Earth

    Leaden impacts of gum disease, smoking

    Subtle bone loss associated with advanced gum disease can be linked to elevated lead concentrations in the blood.

  12. Agriculture

    Cocoa yields are mushrooming—downward

    A mushroom epidemic in Brazilian cacao trees, which has cut the production of cacao by 25 percent in 5 years, may be treatable with another fungus.