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

    Gender Measure: Pollutant appears to alter boys’ genitals

    Infant boys who were exposed in the womb to modest concentrations of certain common plasticizers and solvents developed genital changes.

  2. Ecosystems

    Empty Nets

    New research has begun challenging long-held assumptions about the consequences for fish stocks of harvesting the biggest fish first.

  3. Health & Medicine

    The Case of the Suspicious Hamsters

    A recent outbreak of Salmonella poisoning showed that hamsters, mice, and other pocket pets can spread the dangerous bacteria, which are typically associated with chickens and eggs.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Star Wars Goes Organic

    A group promoting organic foods has produced its own version of Star Wars, featuring heroic produce, villainous eggs and bananas, and warnings about dangerous agricultural practices.

  5. Health & Medicine

    To Fight Cataracts, It’s Fish Yea, Mayo Nay

    Which fats predominate in a person's diet may influence that individual's susceptibility to cataracts.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Bread and Chocolate, No Longer D-Minimus

    Heavy fortification of foods with vitamin D offers one way to overcome chronic deficiencies of the nutrient among many people and can even help build bone.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Understanding Vitamin D Deficiency

    Most adults don't get the recommended daily amount of vitamin D, and obesity may be a contributing factor.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Zinc boosts kids’ learning

    Zinc fortification improved mental skills in children with normal healthy diets, suggesting that the recommended intake for this mineral may need to be raised.

  9. Earth

    Oysters under siege: Heat and pollution

    With global warming, some polluted waters could become graveyards for certain shellfish.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Season Affects Cancer-Surgery Survival

    Ample vitamin D at the time of lung-cancer surgery dramatically increases the odds that a patient will be alive and cancerfree 5 years later.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Step up to denser bones

    Step aerobics proved better than resistance exercises for building bone density.

  12. Obesity may aggravate flu

    At least in mice, obesity can greatly exaggerate the severity of flu by impairing the body's immune response.