OU News

News from The Open University

  1. Home
  2. Category: Science, maths, computing and technology

Category: Science, maths, computing and technology

A Year to Change the World: Q&A with OU Professor Neil Edwards

A Year to Change the World: Q&A with OU Professor Neil Edwards

The final episode of the three-part series, Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World, airs tonight at 9pm on BBC One. The documentary is co-produced by The Open University and BBC. In this episode Greta looks at how COVID-19 has posed a challenge for tackling the climate crisis. She meets with German Chancellor Angela […]

Read more about A Year to Change the World: Q&A with OU Professor Neil Edwards

Scientists discover new biomarker behind aggressive form of prostate cancer

Scientists discover new biomarker behind aggressive form of prostate cancer

An international group of geneticists have discovered a new molecule that drives the spread of the most aggressive form of prostate cancer. This breakthrough signals new hope for sufferers of the deadly disease. In the UK, more than 48,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year – it is the most common cancer found […]

Read more about Scientists discover new biomarker behind aggressive form of prostate cancer

Mars: how Ingenuity helicopter made the first flight on another planet

Mars: how Ingenuity helicopter made the first flight on another planet

Written by Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University Imagine that you are flying a model helicopter or a drone. You are there with the auto controls. You switch them on. The rotors start to turn, gradually increasing their spin. You watch, then push the control for lift. Your helicopter rises, hovers, […]

Read more about Mars: how Ingenuity helicopter made the first flight on another planet

Funding award supports OU partnership to protect climate and restore floodplain meadows

Funding award supports OU partnership to protect climate and restore floodplain meadows

The OU’s Floodplain Meadows Partnership has won a substantial grant from Ecover to help restore and protect 50 hectares of floodplain meadows along the banks of the River Thames in Oxfordshire. The team, which includes scientists from the OU and partners; Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust and Long Mead Local Wildlife Site, will work […]

Read more about Funding award supports OU partnership to protect climate and restore floodplain meadows

Ice, sand and the spiders from Mars in the laboratory

Ice, sand and the spiders from Mars in the laboratory

Open University researchers have recreated the formation of spider-like patterns on Mars in their laboratory, which provides the first physical evidence that these features can be formed by a unique process unlike anything seen on Earth. In a paper published in Nature Scientific Reports, led by OU Postdoctoral Research Associate, Dr Lauren McKeown, the team […]

Read more about Ice, sand and the spiders from Mars in the laboratory

tropical storm

Changes in global rainfall in the past give future climate change insight

New research from The Open University has revealed global tropical rainfall changes that took place during past climatic periods, which can help in understanding processes for the impact of future climate change. The study by an international research team, made up of researchers from The Open University (OU), the British Geological Survey and Brown University, […]

Read more about Changes in global rainfall in the past give future climate change insight

Telescope in space

OU receives slice of £1m Government funding to enhance space technology

The Open University (OU) is leading on one of five UK space projects awarded over £1 million by the Government as part of its efforts to boost international innovation. The National Space Innovation Programme (NSIP) International is the first fund dedicated to supporting the UK space sector through collaborations with international partners, designed to contribute […]

Read more about OU receives slice of £1m Government funding to enhance space technology

BBC/OU Co-Pro unveils the undiscovered life in sewage

BBC/OU Co-Pro unveils the undiscovered life in sewage

A fascinating look into the world of sewage and how scientists are searching for ways to upcycle human waste comes to our television screens this week. The Secret Science of Sewage a BBC/Open University co-production, explores the biology, chemistry, and history of feces – looking inside the tanks of one of the UK’s largest and […]

Read more about BBC/OU Co-Pro unveils the undiscovered life in sewage

Fukushima: ten years on from the disaster, was Japan’s response right?

Fukushima: ten years on from the disaster, was Japan’s response right?

by William Nuttall, professor of energy, The Open University and Philip Thomas, professor of risk management, University of Bristol The world saw something never before caught on camera on March 12, 2011: an explosion ripping the roof off a nuclear power plant – Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi. The blast wasn’t actually nuclear, it was the result of […]

Read more about Fukushima: ten years on from the disaster, was Japan’s response right?

Fireball falling to Earth.

How scientists found rare fireball meteorite pieces on a UK driveway – and what it could teach us

by Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary Sciences, The Open University As people in the UK were settling down to watch the late evening news on February 28, a fresh news story, quite literally, appeared in the night sky. A large and very bright fireball was seen over southern England and northern France at 21:54 GMT. […]

Read more about How scientists found rare fireball meteorite pieces on a UK driveway – and what it could teach us

Page 29 of 59