Reading in the news - Tue 9 Feb

COVID-19: expert comment on the pandemic 

• Dr Simon Clarke (Biological Sciences) was interviewed for BBC Radio 2, TRT World, BBC Hereford and Worcester, BBC Radio Surrey and BBC Radio London; and answered listeners’ questions on BBC Radio Manchester.
• Dr Clarke quoted in the New York Times about the SA variant and the AZ-Oxford vaccine, and the article is reproduced in BD News 24; in Mirror Online on transmitting Covid, and in the Express about vaccine boosters.  
• Dr Al Edwards (Pharmacy) answered listeners’ questions on BBC Radio Berkshire.

Planet Partners: working with global partners to protect the environment 

• PhD researcher Chloe Brimicombe is quoted in New Scientist about research on a link to variations in daily temperature and economic growth.
• A new study on early Indian monsoon forecasts is reported in Eurasia Review and other sites, and quotes Dr Amulya Chevuturi (Met). Read our news story here.
• BBC Berkshire interviewed Dr Hannah Bloomfield (Met) about her research on green electricity.

Cocaine: An article by Dr Thomas Grisaffi and Linda Farthing (GES) for the Conversation looks at the increase in farming of coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine, in Peru due to falling coffee prices. Yahoo! News have reproduced the article.

Other coverage:

• Prof Kate Williams (History) appears on the History Extra podcast discussing Mary Queen of Scots.
• Current Archaeology (in print) carries an article about Mare nostrum, a Roman object found in Hampshire. Dr Michael Fulford (Archaeology) who excavated the site is mentioned.
• Polish site DLA Pilota reports the news that transatlantic flights will be offered more flexible flight paths following Reading research. Read our news story.