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

    Six-legged Arthritis Relief

    Here's a novel health food I learned about this morning--one that could be free for the gleaning right outside your front door (especially if you live in China). Warning: You have to be quick or it will get away.

  2. Earth

    Here’s a Title We’ll Gladly Relinquish

    China appears to be the world leader in carbon-dioxide emissions, but we may be partly to blame.

  3. Humans

    The Presidential Climate

    Climate-news watchers may have done a double-take if they caught a look at a story in today’s Washington Times. It reported that: “President Bush is poised to change course and announce as early as this week that he wants Congress to pass a bill to combat global warming.” If the account proves true, it will […]

  4. Earth

    Naming Your Tax Write-Off

    You can name this newly discovered sea slug — or nudibranch — housed in the Scripps Oceanographic Collections. The catch: It’ll cost you. But that “donation” will be tax deductible.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Refugee Polio Scare Can Be Costly

    There can be hidden, and substantial, costs to polio outbreaks among immigrant refugees.

  6. Humans

    Candidates Keep Dodging Science Debate

    Groups representing a large share of the electorate can't get the Presidential candidates to commit to a discussion of science and technology issues.

  7. Ecosystems

    Refugee Policy Needs a Shot in the Arm

    Sometimes spending a little money on vaccinations up front can save a bundle down the line.

  8. Earth

    A New Would-Be Hormone in Water

    Nitrate, a common pollutant, may also perturb reproductive hormones—at least in frogs.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Strong support for a basic diet

    The alkalinity of diets rich in potassium—usually a reflection of heavy fruit and vegetable consumption—helps preserve muscle.

  10. Humans

    Getting Facts Straight . . . or the Sarah Woolley Chronicles

    Sometimes we run afoul through the best of intentions.

  11. Humans

    A Growing Doctor Shortage

    The older we get, the fewer doctors there are to attend to our frailties.

  12. Tech

    Virtual Addicts

    Logging on may become more than a choice for some young people.