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. Chemistry

    Sense of Wonder

    Multigenerational projects may help us visualize the big picture.

  2. Earth

    The Costs of Meat and Fish

    The purchase price is often but a small part of the true cost of many animal products in the diet.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Vatican Identifies Sinful Field of Science

    Would the Pope have shut down Gregor Mendel’s pea studies?

  4. Chemistry

    Drugs on Tap

    It's finally time to investigate whether pharmaceuticals in water pose a health risk.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Medicinal Chocolate . . . Part 2

    Dark chocolate can be healthful, but it isn't always so. Here's why.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Medicinal Chocolate . . . Part 1

    Therapeutic? - Some health groups are touting the benefits of the antioxidants found in candy.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Nurturing Our Microbes

    Nurturing the microbes living in the human body can pay dividends—from shortening the length of colds to fighting obesity and osteoporosis.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Doctors Without Borders

    A medical brain drain may leave many countries unable to care for their sick.

  9. Life

    Banishing Sense-less Reporting

    Scientific reports don't have to be dry, although they all-too-frequently are.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Benign—Not: Unexpected deaths in probiotics study

    Acute pancreatitis patients provided nutrition laced with supposedly beneficial gut microbes died at far higher rates than did patients who received just the nutrients.

  11. Earth

    Water-Hogging Electric Vehicles

    Electric cars may save on gasoline, but some can place an indirect drain on other resources.

  12. Earth

    Spying asbestos

    A quick, on-site test will allow contractors and inspectors to test for asbestos in construction materials such as concrete.