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. Humans

    Arctic ozone: ‘Hole’ or just not whole?

    This past spring, the Arctic stratosphere’s ozone layer suffered unprecedented depletion. But whether the record loss constituted a “hole” depends on which experts you consult.

  2. Earth

    Arctic ozone loss in 2011 unprecedented

    Report describes a ‘hole’ comparable to conditions observed over Antarctica during the mid-1980s.

  3. Health & Medicine

    B12 shortage linked to cognitive problems

    Subtle B12 deficiency plagues a surprising share of the elderly and may harm the brain, studies suggest.

  4. Humans

    BPA: What to make of pollutant-laced kids’ foods

    The San Francisco-based Breast Cancer Fund has just released some provocative data on the presence of bisphenol A — a hormone-mimicking pollutant — in every brand-name canned food it tested.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Brain may sabotage efforts to lose weight

    The brains of obese people act hungry whether their bodies are or not.

  6. Oceans

    Synthetic lint ends up in oceans

    Microplastics from clothes and other consumer products evade sewage treatment and end up on beaches, studies find.

  7. Chemistry

    HIPPO reveals climate surprises

    A major pollution-mapping program that ends September 9 has turned up startling trends in climate-warming gases and soot.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Obesity can turn body fat toxic

    Excess blubber below the skin can trigger inflammation, possibly increasing risk of disease.

  9. Chemistry

    Fighting flames with greener materials

    New, nano-thin coatings for fabrics and plastics are relatively nontoxic flame retardants.

  10. Life

    Helping Bats Hold On

    Scientists seek a savior as a deadly fungal pandemic explodes through vulnerable colonies.

  11. Climate

    El Niños may inflame civil unrest

    Weather extremes associated with this climate phenomenon appear to double the risk that conflict will erupt in any given year.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Blacks far less likely than whites to land NIH grants

    Among minority scientists applying for National Institutes of Health research grants, blacks alone face a substantially lower likelihood of being successful than whites, a new study finds. This investigation, which was prompted by the research agency itself, will catalyze further probes and a host of changes, promises NIH director Francis Collins.