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Health-care reform on trial: Full-court press | The Economist
In the US, the ‘ObamaCare’ health care reforms are also underfire, as the Supreme Court considers whether the policy is unconstitutional. Read more…Health-care reform on trial: Full-court press | The Economist.
Nine ways scientists can help improve science journalism: InSciOut
In a recent Guardian article , Dr Chris Chambers InSciOut, School of Psychology, Cardiff University proposed a series of measures that scientists can take to improve the quality of science journalism. The piece was part of the run up to a debate at the Royal Institution involving Dr Chambers and the chief online editor of Nature, Ananyo Bhattacharya. The key points rasied are summarised on the InSciOut website here The group are currently undertaking research to investigate the potential role of press releases in creating misleading reports of science in the press, with a focus on biology and health related press releases from the 20 ‘Russell Group’ universities in the UK. The objective is to assess to what extent press releases are the source of inaccuracies in news stories; whether certain phrases in press releases, while not strictly inaccurate, routinely mislead; and to what extent more accurate or cautious press releases suffer from lower press interest.
NHS reforms approved by the House of Lords
Yesterday the government’s NHS Bill, which sets out changes to the NHS in England, cleared its final reading in the House of Lords. Labour have timetabled a 90-minute emergency debate to be held in the Commons today, after which the government will consider the ammendments put forward by the House of Lords. The Bill is expected to be passed into law before Easter. The BBC have reported on this story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17435159 The Guardian have a blog dedicated the NHS reforms: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog+society/series/nhs-reforms-blog