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. Agriculture

    Cow Power

    To improve the dire economics of dairying, some farmers are looking to generate commercial quantities of electric power.

  2. Health & Medicine

    The Antibiotic Vitamin

    Because vitamin D turns on a major germ killer in the body, a deficiency in the nutrient may leave people especially vulnerable to infections.

  3. Earth

    New Estimates of the Shark-Fin Trade

    A new study of the Asian fish market yields a disturbing estimate of how many sharks are killed each year to satisfy demand for a pricy Asian soup.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Cola May Weaken Women’s Bones

    New research indicates that, in postmenopausal women, regular consumption of cola-flavored soft drinks may weaken bones.

  5. Health & Medicine

    A Salty Controversy over Sodium-and-Health Papers

    A public-interest group has raised a ruckus over salt-industry payments to the authors of a nutrition journal's package of articles on salt's influence on health.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Olive Oil’s Newfound Benefits

    New studies find benefits in olive oil beyond their heart-friendly fats.

  7. Humans

    Venting Concerns

    Scientists have developed a code of conduct to guide their research and activities at hydrothermal vents.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Babies Motor Better with Breast Milk

    Even a few months of breastfeeding appear to confer important motor-coordination benefits on an infant.

  9. Earth

    Sea Turtles—What Not To Eat

    Wildlife scientists hope to reduce widespread consumption of sea turtle meat and other products by pointing out the health risks they pose.

  10. Humans

    Undergrad science and engineering are broadly useful

    Although they aren’t researchers, the majority of people who earned bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering at least 10 years ago find their knowledge of those fields useful in their current workplaces. The findings, which come from an analysis of three national databases of college graduates, were reported in August by Mark C. Regets of […]

  11. Humans

    Women: Where are your patents?

    Business-school researchers find a big gender gap among academic life scientists in patenting rates.

  12. Health & Medicine

    A New Bible for Eating Well

    The Institute of Medicine has just summarized in a new book 5,000 pages of comprehensive nutrition guidelines issued over the past decade.