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.
We increase the total amount of carbon in the atmosphere every year. How can the planet achieve net zero – … read more
Scientists undertook a self-controlled case series to investigate the risk of developing neurological complications within 28 days of a first … read more
Valneva has just announced the top line results of its phase 3 trial, Cov-Compare, of its inactivated, adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine … read more
The ocean regulates the global climate by absorbing heat and carbon from the atmosphere and storing them in the deep … read more
The REACT-1 team from Imperial College London has now completed round 14 of their study looking at virus prevalence across … read more
Major efforts are needed to mitigate climate change. A new report argues that if the drivers and impacts of climate … read more
In the run up to COP15 scientists at the Natural History Museum have developed a new tool, the Biodiversity Trends … read more
Today, MSD announced the interim results of their MOVe-OUT trial, looking at the efficacy of the oral antiviral molnupiravir in … read more
The Combining Influenza and COVID-19 Vaccination (ComFluCOV) study was designed to establish the safety of co-administering the most widely used … read more
A new study has looked at the impact of coming off antidepressants in those who have been taking them long … read more
Research from the University of Oxford and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) … read more
Previous data on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy amongst children has been mostly limited to parent opinion. As the UK COVID-19 vaccination … read more
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
On 1st August, Professor Liam Smeeth took over from Peter Piot as head of the London School of Hygiene & … read more
