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 use of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is an international public health and child protection challenge. Researchers at the … read more
Dementia research is at a tipping point. Earlier this year, an Alzheimer’s drug, Eisai’s lecanemab, demonstrated a small but clear … read more
A new study assesses the dental health of two cohorts of young children over a six year period: in West … read more
As world leaders meet at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, the Global Carbon Project will reveal the latest trends in global … read more
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a common seasonal virus that infects most babies in their first few years of life. … read more
Bipolar is a severe mental illness characterised by significant and sometimes extreme changes in mood and energy, which go far … read more
Results of a phase 2b trial for the use of psilocybin in treatment resistant depression has been published in the … read more
Key reports from WMO and UNEP in the last few days have shown a lack progress on emission reduction. With … read more
With restrictions imposed during the Covid pandemic, we haven’t had a ‘proper’ flu season for a number of years. We’ve … read more
Recently the UK government has announced a review of schemes that aim to improve the environment such as the Environmental … read more
This autumn over three million UK adults will receive a letter inviting them to join the Our Future Health research … read more
A new monkeypox research consortium is being created to develop better diagnostic tests, identify potential therapies and study vaccine effectiveness … read more
In partnership with DEFRA and the Animal Health Plant Agency, we invited journalists to a background briefing on Avian Influenza. … read more
Scientists at the University of Oxford have carried out a study to investigate whether and how people’s genes influence how … read more
New results from the FIELD (Football’s InfluencE on Lifelong health and Dementia risk) study were published on the evening of … read more
A new systematic review of the evidence on the health risks of nicotine vaping has been produced by scientists at … read more
Around 5,000 people in the UK have motor neurone disease (MND) – also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Two … read more
University of Oxford researchers have been running trials of their R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine candidate in children in Burkina Faso, Africa. … read more
Does hydrogen really have a critical role to play in achieving net zero? And can the UK embrace the engineering … read more
Cardiovascular disease is the world’s largest killer, responsible for around 18 million deaths each year. High levels of LDL (‘bad’) … read more
