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. Science & Society

    Climate Threatens Living Fossil

    Thanks to global warming, within the lifetimes of certain reptiles in the South Pacific, all members of their species could be born male.

  2. Climate

    EPA asks: Could you drive less?

    Gas prices may need to climb more before most of us do the right thing.

  3. Space

    School teacher spots green blob

    Mystery object appears to be a starless dwarf galaxy.

  4. Astronomy

    Citizen Astronomy

    Astronomers have found big benefits from recruiting the public to lend their eyes and image-processing prowess

  5. Agriculture

    Bee-Loved Plantings

    Zipcode-organized guidelines tell gardeners, farmers and others how to design a landscape that will not only entice pollinators but also keep these horticultural helpers happy.

  6. Ecosystems

    Human ‘Signature’ in Fish Losses

    Why the whales-ate-my-fish argument doesn't hold water.

  7. Ecosystems

    On Whales’ Appetites: What a Waste

    An advocacy group and renowned scientist floundered in an attempt to compel opinion shapers with the science showing that industrial fleets, not whales, pose a serious threat to fish stocks.

  8. Astronomy

    Galaxy Zoo’s blue mystery (part 2)

    Featured blog: The enigmatic "Voorwerp" may be a dwarf galaxy lit by the ghostly echoes of a long-gone quasar.

  9. Plants

    Forest invades tundra

    The Arctic tundra is under assault from trees, with serious implications for global climate change.

  10. Physics

    Galaxy Zoo’s blue mystery (part I)

    A Dutch science teacher found a novel celestial object that had eluded the notice of astronomers.

  11. Computing

    Video Search à la Web

    Finding videos on the web can still be a hit-or-miss proposition.

  12. Materials Science

    Family Snaps in Peril

    Digital photography appears to be far more ephemeral than camera sales people have led us to believe.