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

    On Following the Money

    Judge medical writers on issues that matter most in a given story, not just on what's easiest to quantify.

  2. Health & Medicine

    You Choose: Vioxx vs Rofecoxib

    Physicians weigh in on how reporters refer to certain medications.

  3. Humans

    Second-Tier Presidential Debates

    Here are thematic debates, minus the candidates, that you can take in via your computer.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Moms: One Solution to Tainted Milk

    Tainted infant formulas point to a problem in the way society values moms.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Investing in Health: Ouch!

    Investments in health, one of the largest segments of the U.S. economy, have been stagnating — and could be poised to actually take a big hit.

  6. Humans

    The Science Vote

    Science News runs down what the two presidential candidates and their campaigns have been saying about science and technology issues.

  7. Humans

    The Science Vote: Spending priorities differ

    Federal funding for academic research — a major engine of innovation — has experienced an “unprecedented” two-year decline, the National Science Foundation reported in late August. Between fiscal years 2005 and 2007, Uncle Sam’s share of academic research funding fell from 64 percent to 62 percent. To take up the slack, universities turned to industry […]

  8. Humans

    The Science Vote: Linking energy to greenhouse risks

    Science and technology have not played out as major presidential campaign issues this year. And following Sen. John McCain’s unexpected announcement that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be his running mate, even foreign policy and major energy issues have been relegated to the back seat as the media feverishly probe the views, background and administrative […]

  9. Chemistry

    Obama’s brain trust

    Featured blog: Sixty-one Nobel laureates sign a letter explaining why they support Barack Obama's run for the presidency.

  10. Health & Medicine

    The Foreign Drug Trade

    Chances are you haven't a clue where your medicines come from.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Cancer data: Burying bad news

    Featured blog: Data from the vast majority of human cancer trials never get published, a new study finds — and that's not a good thing.

  12. Climate

    (Political) party animals

    Featured blog: When it comes to attitudes about climate change, the chasm between Democrats and Republicans is wide. Political-polling analysts speculate that a McCain win in November might do more than an Obama victory to win over the minds of climate-change skeptics.