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 UK has pledged to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. The built environment, of which … read more
While most children are diagnosed with autism around 3 years of age, this new study aimed to look at children … read more
The QCovid tool was developed by scientists in 2020 to identify risk factors for COVID-19 severe disease and death. The … read more
The scientists running the Com-COV trial have launched a new study of COVID-19 vaccination schedules in young people aged 12 … read more
Prof Graham Medley was available to answer science journalists’ questions on the modelling published today as part of the SAGE … read more
Today we are expecting news from the JCVI re their advice on booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Prof Saul … read more
We put on a Q&A so science and health journalists could ask their questions to paediatricians and vaccine experts on … read more
A new study of nearly 7,000 children and young people in England has shed more light on the prevalence and … read more
Researchers undertook a self-controlled case series study of people vaccinated in England between December 1, 2020 and April 24, 2021, … read more
Initial data from the ongoing OCTAVE study have been announced this afternoon. The data is released as a preprint on the … read more
There has been a lot of discussion and some concern around the ability of the COVID-19 vaccines to protect against … read more
The ISARIC4C team of researchers have assessed the magnitude of nosocomial (hospital-acquired) COVID-19 in acute and long-term NHS hospital facilities … read more
In early May the JCVI advised a preference for adults aged 30 to 39 to receive an alternative to the … read more
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was expected to publish the Working Group 1 part of its Sixth Assessment … read more
The Respiratory Strategies in COVID-19; CPAP, High-flow, and Standard Care (RECOVERY-RS) trial, funded and supported by the National Institute for … read more
We put on a Q&A so science and health journalists could ask their questions to paediatricians on the updated JCVI … read more
We recently heard from the REACT-1 scientists with interim results from round 13 of their study looking at virus prevalence … read more
Scientists from King’s College London using data from the COVID Symptom Study smartphone app (ZOE/KCL) have done a study looking … read more
Preg-CoV will be the UK’s largest clinical trial investigating the best gap between first and second COVID-19 vaccine doses for … read more
Major new results from the FIELD (Football’s InfluencE on Lifelong health and Dementia risk) study were announced on Monday 2 … read more
