Rapid Reactions: responding to breaking news. The demands of the 24-hour media machine mean that news journalists often don’t have the luxury of time to track down the best scientists when a science story lands on their desks, so availability can sometimes win out over expertise. This is where the Science Media Centre steps in. When a story breaks – whether it’s the latest flu epidemic, health scare or a potential nuclear crisis – the SMC persuades leading experts to drop everything and engage with the story, then contacts journalists at all the major news outlets to offer those experts for interviews or immediate comment.
Roundups: putting new research into context. One of the other ways the SMC ensures that the media have easy access to scientists and their views is by offering journalists a variety of comments from scientists reacting to the latest research. This service differs from our ‘Rapid Reactions’ as scientists have time to react before new research is announced, rather than in response to breaking news.
With access to embargoed journals before publication, we can pick stories of most interest to journalists, asking third party experts to provide comments and information to put research into context before it appears in the media. The SMC’s unique Roundups help busy journalists critically analyse the strengths and weaknesses of new research, and highlight when studies are very preliminary or display a correlation that should not be read as causation. Equally, when leading scientists are excited about a significant study this can reassure journalists that the study should feature strongly in their coverage.
The UK government has announced deals for Covid-19 antivirals molnupiravir (from Merck) and PF-07321332 /ritonavir (from Pfizer). Richard Torbett, … read more
A study published in Nature looks at diet influence on tumour growth in mice. Dr George Poulogiannis, Leader of … read more
The NHS confederation has called to enact ‘Plan B plus’ to avoid ‘stumbling into winter crisis’. Prof Paul Moss, … read more
A study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association looks at concussion and long-term cognitive function … read more
A comment from Dr Jason Oke and Dr Julian Tang on the latest daily COVID-19 death statistic, as published on … read more
A study published in Nature Communications suggests that glycoproteins on the surface of viruses, which aid their entry into target … read more
A study published in JAMA Network Open looks at incidence of cigarette smoking relapse among individuals who switched to e-cigarettes … read more
Published today by the government, the Net Zero Strategy sets out how the UK will deliver on its commitment to reach … read more
There have been reports in the media of a new Delta descendant designated as AY.4.2, here are some general comments … read more
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have released provisional counts of the number of deaths registered in England and Wales in the … read more
A study published in Nature Metabolism suggests that fasting may mediate the beneficial effects of a calorie-restricted diet in mice. … read more
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have released a technical article looking at the impact of vaccination on testing positive in … read more
The press release from Valneva reports positive phase 3 results for inactivated, adjuvanted COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate VLA2001. This Roundup accompanied … read more
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have released the latest data from their COVID-19 Infection Survey. Dr Simon Clarke, Associate Professor … read more
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has announced that testing at a private lab has been suspended following reports of people … read more
A case report published in BMJ Case Reports follows a patient who declined conventional treatment and took ‘CBD oil’ as … read more
A study published in PLOS Medicine looks at statins and COVID-19 mortality in Stockholm, Sweden. Prof Tim Chico, Professor … read more
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has published its latest weekly national influenza and COVID-19 surveillance report. Dr Simon … read more
A preprint, an unpublished non-peer reviewed study, reports on the latest data from the REACT-1 study on COVID-19 spread across … read more
A study published in Clinical Epidemiology looks at lateral flow test (LFT) sensitivity. Dr Thomas House, Reader in Mathematical … read more
