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

    Talking Turkey (with recipe)

    They can weigh in at 40 pounds or more. They prefer walking, but they can fly. And if Benjamin Franklin had had his way, they would be the U.S. national symbol. We’re talking turkey–wild turkey, that is. Wild turkeys like those shown here are anything but white. National Wild Turkey Federation Turkeys naturally prefer to […]

  2. Humans

    Munching Along

    New Orleans' French Quarter has become a central proving ground for new technologies to find and attack the North American invasion of especially aggressive and resourceful alien termites.

  3. Health & Medicine

    A Forget-Me-Not Dietary Supplement?

    By the time most people reach their 40s, the mind has lost some of its youthful nimbleness. They learn a little more slowly. They forget more frequently. Sometimes, they don’t remember where they put the car keys or the name of that popular actor. REMEMBER THIS. Egg yolks are a rich source of choline. National […]

  4. Earth

    Chemical Reaction: Two flame retardants to phase out in 2004

    The sole U.S. manufacturer of two widely used brominated fire retardants pledged to phase out its production of both products by the end of next year.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Soy compounds thwart estrogen

    Soy-stress compound interferes with estrogen activity, possibly pointing the way to a new breast-cancer drug.

  6. Earth

    UV-pollutant combo hits tadpoles hard

    Coincident exposure to ultraviolet light and an estrogen-mimicking pollutant severely jeopardized the chance a tadpole would reach adulthood.

  7. Earth

    Sewage linked to fish-gender quirks

    Releases from sewage treatment plants appear to impair reproductive tissues in fish.

  8. Earth

    Pollutants shape baby-gator gonads

    The same pollutants that appear to shorten the length of a grown-alligator's phallus actually lead to this organ's lengthening in baby gators.

  9. Earth

    POPs treaty enacted

    A new United Nations treaty that seeks to phase down or eliminate production and use of 16 persistent, toxic pollutants has gone into effect.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Chopsticks and Pain

    Chopsticks. In North America, they’re the emblem of an increasingly popular cuisine. However, few of the Westerners patronizing East Asian restaurants have mastered the art of scooping rice or tweezing meat, veggies, and noodles with a pair of bamboo rods. As a result, many people eat Chinese and other Asian entrees using cutlery. If there’s […]

  11. Earth

    Flaming Out? Days may be numbered for two fire retardants

    The maker of two controversial flame-retardant chemicals has voluntarily initiated negotiations with the federal government to end their production.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Hormones in Your Milk

    Four dairies got their proverbial hands slapped by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for marketing what it charges is “misbranded” milk. The regulatory agency recently issued warning letters to the companies–which sell whole milk, reduced-fat milk, and ice cream–saying that their product labels contain false statements about the food’s hormone status. USDA FDA’s Sept. […]