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. Earth

    Gasp! Ozone limits don’t protect babies

    In healthy infants, even ozone concentrations well below those allowed by federal law trigger asthmalike symptoms.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Chocolate as Sunscreen

    A small study in women suggests that a cocoa drink rich in flavonoids made their skin look better and protected it from ultraviolet-light damage.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Has Early Programming Sealed These Animals’ Fate?

    Surprising data from harbor seals indicate that nutrition prior to weaning may permanently set growth rates in the animals.

  4. Light Impacts

    Depending on when it's encountered, blue light can be more effective than other hues (or even white light) at waking people, setting their biological clocks, and maximizing visual acuity.

  5. Tech

    Illuminating Changes

    Indoor lighting is undergoing a dramatic metamorphosis toward energy-conserving systems that rely on solid-state technologies.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Reevaluating Eggs’ Cholesterol Risks

    People susceptible to substantial blood-cholesterol spikes after eating eggs manage this extra cholesterol in a way that limits damage to their hearts.

  7. Humans

    Clinical trials really pay off

    Large-scale human trials of new treatments in medicine have the potential to offer huge economic benefits from improved quality of life.

  8. Humans

    Study finds bias in peer review

    Researchers have found evidence of bias when scientists review data and the researcher's name and affiliation are available to the reviewers.

  9. Do People Know When They’re Overweight?

    Most people can estimate their height and weight accurately, but overweight people generally fail to realize that they weigh too much.

  10. Animals

    Foodfree growth

    Rattlesnakes undergo a hibernation-like state to survive long periods of famine, while continuing to grow longer.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Alcohol spurs cancer growth

    Downing the human equivalent of two to four alcoholic drinks per day dramatically spurs the growth of cancers implanted in lab mice.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Putting the Pressure on Poisons

    Although rice can contain traces of a liver carcinogen, a new study finds that pressure-cooking reduces toxin quantities to safe levels.