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.
Two UK-wide research programmes, PHOSP-COVID and ISARIC-4C, have been following people who were hospitalised with Covid and went on to … read more
The way medical devices and technologies are designed and used has raised concerns about the impact of ethnic background on … read more
Currently, the only way to collect foetal stem cells and grow them in a lab into organoids (for scientific research) … read more
The REACT team at Imperial College London have carried out an observational study looking at measures of cognitive performance in … read more
A new study led by researchers at UCL finds that more than half of smokers in England incorrectly believe that … read more
A new study by UCL researchers has found that interventions such as Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) … read more
During and since the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve generally seen more people die than we’d expect. Different organisations have used different … read more
A team of scientists, clinicians and clinical trial experts, lead by the University of Warwick and University Hospitals Coventry & … read more
The first research study of the entire UK population highlights gaps in COVID-19 vaccine coverage. Between a third and a … read more
Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is a technique that allows us to read someone’s entire genome with a single test. The … read more
Nitrogen pollution contributes to poor air quality, biodiversity loss and climate change. A new report sets out a ‘recipe’ for … read more
The UK Energy Research Centre publishes its annual review of UK energy policy – a stocktake of progress over the … read more
Since the successful development of mRNA vaccines for COVID-19, this technology is now considered game changing for the future … read more
The Global Tipping Points Report is a peer-reviewed assessment of the threats and opportunities of negative and positive tipping points … read more
As world leaders meet at COP28 in Dubai, the Global Carbon Project reveals the latest trends in global carbon emissions … read more
Despite huge advances in human genetics and medical research, we still know very little about how the majority of the … read more
CCS and CDR have provoked controversy, with some claiming they are essential to climate change mitigation and others calling them … read more
A new study in Frontiers in Science examines what will happen to climate change after net zero. The UN Climate … read more
Government and the medical profession need to adapt to an ageing population – Chief Medical Officer. Professor Chris Whitty’s fourth … read more
The way dementia is diagnosed has barely changed for nearly two decades, and here’s the shocker: at least a third … read more
