The Science Media Centre is not restricted to reacting to the headlines, and has helped scientists to more proactively set the agenda by bringing new science or evidence to journalists. This comes from our regular briefings, which take a variety of forms and cover a wide range of topics. Many are background briefings introducing journalists to the best experts and science on controversial issues like nuclear waste, nanotechnology, emerging diseases, or animal research, for example. They may also be news briefings where the SMC works with scientists to give the national media a new story on developments within science, whether it’s a report on climate change, a paper on stem cells being published in a leading journal, or science funding cuts in the latest budget. In addition, the SMC encourages leading experts to ‘speak out’ to the media about developments they believe may pose a threat to scientific research – not something science has been renowned for.
The Chief Medical Officer’s reports have been released annually for over 150 years, providing an independent assessment of the state … read more
Over the past year, there has been significant debate regarding whether the UK should introduce a national screening programme for … read more
STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) Fusion is the UK’s flagship programme to deliver a prototype fusion energy plant by … read more
Cochrane are publishing two new reviews looking at the HPV vaccine. Together, they provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date … read more
A new clinical trial assessing the use of puberty suppression in young people with gender incongruence is being set up … read more
As world leaders meet at COP30 in Belem, the Global Carbon Project will reveal the latest trends in global carbon … read more
The continued development of NAMs (New Approach Methodologies) – including models such as cell cultures and organoids that attempt to … read more
Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) has been proposed as a way of ‘masking’ the temperature rise caused by greenhouse gases by … read more
We know from previous research that both Covid infection and Covid mRNA vaccination are associated with the rare complication of … read more
Researchers have created pigs that are resistant to classical swine fever (CSF), a highly infectious and often fatal disease that … read more
In the UK, between 15-20% of adults are prescribed antidepressants. While we have good comparative data on efficacy of these … read more
The State of Wildfires report takes stock of extreme wildfires of the 2024-2025 fire season – including the Los Angeles … read more
Professor Sir Ian Chapman is the new chief executive of UK Research & Innovation (UKRI). As is our way with … read more
This summer was the warmest on record, with dry weather across the UK leading to water restrictions in parts of … read more
mRNA technology became public knowledge during the pandemic with the welcome arrival of Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. More … read more
After a decades long hiatus in research, we have seen a resurgence in recent years of trials of psychedelics as … read more
The way the UK produces, sells and eats food is fuelling major problems – from rising diet-related disease and the … read more
The World Meteorological Organisation released its new report The State of Global Water Resources 2024. This annual report is an authoritative … read more
Researchers have developed a new generative AI model (Delphi-2M) that uses anonymised large-scale health records to estimate how a person’s … read more
The Blood Biomarker Challenge is a multi-million-pound programme supported by Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer’s Research UK and the People’s Postcode Lottery … read more
