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.
Much is still unknown about how mutations in the virus affect key outcomes such as how transmissible it is, the … read more
PHE’s ‘SIREN’ (SARS-CoV-2 Immunity & REinfection EvaluatioN) study has studied volunteer health workers from across the NHS in order to … read more
The REMAP-CAP trial (Randomised, Embedded, Multi-factorial, Adaptive Platform Trial for Community-Acquired Pneumonia), which began in March 2020, has been trialling … read more
As government sends the army to organise mass testing of lorry drivers sitting at ports, controversy continues about whether these … read more
COG-UK is the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium and has some of the UK’s leading experts on virus genomics. We asked … read more
NERVTAG published a brief summary of NERVTAG opinion yesterday following their meeting on the SARS-CoV-2 variant under investigation, VUI-202012/01: https://khub.net/documents/135939561/338928724/SARS-CoV-2+variant+under+investigation%2C+meeting+minutes.pdf/962e866b-161f-2fd5-1030-32b6ab467896?t=1608491166921 … read more
We gave journalists the opportunity to ask the panellists anything they want about vaccines – from specific covid-related details to … read more
Conducted jointly by PHE, LSHTM and the ONS, the COVID-19 Schools Infection Survey assesses the role of schools in COVID-19 … read more
COG-UK is the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium and has some of the UK’s leading experts on virus genomics. We asked … read more
We recently heard from the REACT-1 scientists with interim results from round 7 of their study looking at virus prevalence … read more
Researchers have studied 2,244 critically ill patients with COVID-19, comparing their genetic make up to a control group, to see … read more
The annual update on global carbon emissions and carbon sinks has been released by The Global Carbon Project. The report … read more
We recently heard the interim high-level results from phase 3 clinical trials of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the … read more
This morning the government published a new report on the workings of the Vaccine Taskforce (VTF). Six months after it … read more
In October 2020, Slovakia tested its whole population for SARS-CoV-2 infections, conducting more than five million rapid antigen tests. A … read more
In light of today’s announcement regarding the MHRA’s decision to grant a temporary authorisation to supply in response to public … read more
Proteins form the machinery that keep all animals, plants and bacteria alive and well. Inside each of the cells that … read more
This briefing covered the latest interim data from the largest community coronavirus testing programme, REACT. This batch of data is … read more
Journalists from around the world were invited to join a media briefing webinar on the positive high-level results from an … read more
We have heard a lot about vaccines for the elderly. But there are also prophylactic drugs being tested that could … read more
