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. Health & Medicine

    Fetal stress begets adult hypertension

    Intense stress during pregnancy may program the baby's development in ways that foster high blood pressure during adulthood.

  2. Health & Medicine

    With this bait, TB won’t play possum

    An oral tuberculosis vaccine, designed to help curtail the spread of the disease in wildlife populations, may also find use in people.

  3. Earth

    Breath-Taking Popcorn

    To most people, the scent of hot buttered popcorn brings to mind excursions to the local movie theater for big-screen viewings or recalls quiet winter respites before a crackling fire. To those who toil in the plants that package microwave popcorn, the same smell can not only be overpowering but also signal lung dangers, according […]

  4. When Herbs Bite Back

    Roughly half of all U.S. drugs are synthetic versions of plant-derived chemicals or modifications of those natural compounds. It should come as little surprise, therefore, that many botanical preparations–either fresh from the garden or boxed from your local supermarket–prove biologically active. Indeed, it’s with this expectation that many people grow or buy what have come […]

  5. Earth

    Smog’s ozone spawns funky carpet smells

    Strange, unpleasant odors may emanate from carpets for years due to reactions caused by exposure to smoggy air.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Honey of a Threat

    An all-natural, organic food, honey has a benign–if not wholesome–image. Many people consider it a superior alternative to table sugar and corn syrup–two primary sweeteners in the U.S diet. Though attractive to bees, borage may lace its flowers nectar with toxic chemicals that could then show up in honey. James N. Roitman, USDA-ARS Comfrey, formerly […]

  7. Health & Medicine

    Berry Colorful Nutrition News (with recipes)

    Ah, raspberries. So sweet, so delicate on the tongue, so ephemeral. Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission Isolated pigments from the four raspberries tested. Liu/Cornell Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission Every year, I unsuccessfully defend my raspberries against squirrels, birds, and beetles. As I watch the fruit begin to ripen, so do the neighborhood creatures. Two […]

  8. Earth

    Do your bit to fight toxic pool pollution

    New data suggest that showering before a swim in the community pool could help limit the formation of toxic chemicals in the water.

  9. Humans

    Web site debuts on junior high science

    A new Web site reviews the accuracy of commonly used middle school physical science books and offers tips and assistance for teachers working from those texts.

  10. Earth

    Beefy Losses

    Cattle ranchers are facing some puzzling–and, at times, economically devastating–problems with pregnant cows and calves. At some facilities, high numbers of fetuses are aborting for no apparent reason. Other farmers successfully raise what look to be normal young cattle, only to learn when the animals are butchered that their carcasses appear old and, therefore, less […]

  11. Earth

    Hormones: Here’s the Beef

    Runoff of the hormones excreted by steroid-treated livestock could subtly harm aquatic life.

  12. Earth

    Fire Retardant Catfish?

    It may sound like a barbecue chefs dream: fish that wont catch fire and char when their fat spatters onto overly hot charcoal. But the facts are less appealing. Although many U.S. fish contain fire retardants, they wont protect your grilled fare from burning. In fact, these compounds, which go by the name of polybrominated […]