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

    E is for Effort from Athletes

    It takes a lot of energy to move the body–which is why vigorous exercise burns so many calories. However, both exercise and our body’s conversion of food to usable energy can take a physical toll on muscle. Boston researchers now find that supplementing diets with extra vitamin E can reduce not only muscle damage but […]

  2. Health & Medicine

    On Wheat and Weaning

    Prolonged breastfeeding appears to offer some babies major intestinal benefits, a new Swedish study finds. The practice prevented or at least delayed the onset of celiac disease in children. This intestinal disorder tends to run in families, especially those with a northern-European background. In the United States, roughly one in every 250 Americans develops the […]

  3. Earth

    Honey may pose hidden toxic risk

    Many honeys may contain potentially toxic traces of potent liver-damaging compounds produced naturally by a broad range of flowering plants.

  4. Health & Medicine

    A Cold Observation about Wine (with recipe)

    Show this story to your boss, and she might just offer you a glass or two of wine. After all, downing this beverage–especially the red varieties–appears to help ward off the common cold, according to a new study. Though colds usually arent dire, they remain one of the leading causes of missed days at work. […]

  5. Health & Medicine

    Could nicotine patch fight depression?

    Chronic nicotine administration blocked a symptom of depression in an animal model of the disease.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Fetal stress begets adult hypertension

    Intense stress during pregnancy may program the baby's development in ways that foster high blood pressure during adulthood.

  7. Health & Medicine

    With this bait, TB won’t play possum

    An oral tuberculosis vaccine, designed to help curtail the spread of the disease in wildlife populations, may also find use in people.

  8. Earth

    Breath-Taking Popcorn

    To most people, the scent of hot buttered popcorn brings to mind excursions to the local movie theater for big-screen viewings or recalls quiet winter respites before a crackling fire. To those who toil in the plants that package microwave popcorn, the same smell can not only be overpowering but also signal lung dangers, according […]

  9. When Herbs Bite Back

    Roughly half of all U.S. drugs are synthetic versions of plant-derived chemicals or modifications of those natural compounds. It should come as little surprise, therefore, that many botanical preparations–either fresh from the garden or boxed from your local supermarket–prove biologically active. Indeed, it’s with this expectation that many people grow or buy what have come […]

  10. Earth

    Smog’s ozone spawns funky carpet smells

    Strange, unpleasant odors may emanate from carpets for years due to reactions caused by exposure to smoggy air.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Honey of a Threat

    An all-natural, organic food, honey has a benign–if not wholesome–image. Many people consider it a superior alternative to table sugar and corn syrup–two primary sweeteners in the U.S diet. Though attractive to bees, borage may lace its flowers nectar with toxic chemicals that could then show up in honey. James N. Roitman, USDA-ARS Comfrey, formerly […]

  12. Health & Medicine

    Berry Colorful Nutrition News (with recipes)

    Ah, raspberries. So sweet, so delicate on the tongue, so ephemeral. Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission Isolated pigments from the four raspberries tested. Liu/Cornell Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission Every year, I unsuccessfully defend my raspberries against squirrels, birds, and beetles. As I watch the fruit begin to ripen, so do the neighborhood creatures. Two […]