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 monoclonal antibody treatment Xevudy has been authorised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for use in … read more
A study published in Science Advances looks at a possible mechanism for vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) associated with adenoviral … read more
A report published by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics looks at the social and ethical issues surrounding the use of … read more
A study published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine looks at risk of COVID-19 hospital admission among children in Scotland aged … read more
Regeneron has issued a statement to say they are evaluating REGEN-COV® (casirivimab and imdevimab) against the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant. … read more
A study published in Nature Communications uses new climate models to look at Arctic precipitation projections. Dr Gavin Schmidt, … read more
The Financial Times have reported on comments made by the chief executive of Moderna, Stéphane Bancel, about the effectiveness of … read more
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) have released their updated advice on COVID-19 booster vaccines for those aged … read more
The new temporary measures put in place to “buy more time” for our scientists to understand the situation were announced … read more
Scottish health officials have confirmed that six cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in the Scotland. Prof … read more
The Omicron variant has been detected in samples from 13 people that arrived in the Netherlands from South Africa. … read more
The UK Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, has confirmed that two cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in the … read more
There are reports of the emerging B.1.1.529 variant, predominantly in southern Africa, which have prompted new infection control measures from … read more
There are reports of two emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, one in Botswana (B.1.1529)* and one in the US (B.1.628)¥ On … read more
A study published in Scientific Reports looks at household visitation during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Prof Robert Dingwall, Professor of … read more
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) have recommended the approval of the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in children aged … read more
A study published in The BMJ looks at time since receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. … read more
A study published in Jama Network Open looks at Social Media Use and Self-reported Symptoms of Depression in US adults. … read more
A few journalists have asked us about comments made by Pascal Soriot, the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of … read more
The government have announced plans to ban problematic plastics such as single-use cutlery and plates in England as part of … read more
