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

    Retail meats host drug-resistant bacteria

    Three studies appear to tie livestock growth promoters to risk of serious human disease.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Mushrooming Concerns

    For chefs who savor the flavor of fresh, organic ingredients, what could be better than cooking just-picked mushrooms for dinner? Tricholoma flavovirens–sometimes known in the United States and elsewhere as Tricholoma equestre. Its common name: Man on Horseback. Fred Steven That attitude appears to have gotten a few French gourmands in trouble–big trouble, according to […]

  3. Earth

    Ill Winds

    Research suggests that the long-range movement of dust can sicken wildlife, crops—even humans—a continent away.

  4. Earth

    Rain of foreign dust fuels red tides

    Soil particles from Africa, raining out from clouds over the Americas, may trigger the first steps that lead to toxic red-tide algal blooms off Florida.

  5. Earth

    EU moves against flame retardants

    The European Union has provisionally voted to ban the use and importation of nearly all members of a family of flame retardants known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers.

  6. Earth

    Where’s the smoke from the N.Y. fires?

    Analyses of smoke from the destroyed World Trade Center towers indicated little risk that the fires would cause significant health effects for cleanup crews and city residents.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Germs can survive weeks on fabrics, plastic

    Soft, dry surfaces in hospitals can harbor live germs for more than a month.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Even a little coffee may up heart risk

    Drinking just 1 to 3 cups of coffee daily may adversely affect blood concentrations of cholesterol and homocysteine.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Heard about Choline?

    This week, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to announce its authorization of food-labeling claims for choline. It marks the first nutrient to be approved for such claims under the FDA Modernization Act of 1997. Central Soya Central Soya Although choline is hardly a household name, its low visibility doesn’t reflect its importance. This […]

  10. Earth

    Dusty workplace may cause change of heart

    Occupational exposure to fine dust can trigger adverse changes in the hearts of even strong, healthy workers.

  11. Earth

    Aircraft spies on health of coral reefs

    Marine ecologists report the development of a new remote-sensing system that can assess the health of coral reefs from planes.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Milk seems to guard against breast cancer

    Norwegian scientists have linked high milk consumption to low incidence of breast cancer.