The Open University

Climate crisis: six steps to making fossil fuels history

3 December 2019

Dr Stephen Peake, Senior Lecturer in Environment at The Open University writes for The Conversation about the climate crisis. In shouting “system change not climate change”, young people understand that the 3-4℃ warmer world we’re headed for would be far more painful, costly and disruptive than any short-term costs or inconvenience we face from taking […]

OU team gives go ahead to bring Mars’ moon pieces to Earth

2 December 2019

A UK team led by the Open University has given the green light for Mars’ moon material to be transported to Earth as part of a forthcoming mission. The team, led by the OU’s Dr Manish Patel, a renowned expert on Mars exploration, gave the thumbs up for a new Japanese mission to bring pieces […]

OU technician honoured as ‘truly inspiring’ at THE Awards 2019

29 November 2019

Dr Barbara Kunz, an Analytical Laboratory Technician at The Open University has won the Outstanding Technician of the Year category at this year’s Times Higher Education Awards. Presented last night (Thursday 28 November) at a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, Dr Kunz beat off competition from seven other shortlisted universities to be […]

Titan: first global map uncovers secrets of a potentially habitable moon of Saturn

20 November 2019

David Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences at The Open University, writes for The Conversation about a potentially habitable moon of Saturn. There are just three moons in our solar system that measure more than 5,000km across. Of these, Jupiter’s moons Ganymede and Callisto are airless and have ancient heavily cratered surfaces. But Saturn’s largest moon, […]

OU researcher develops tech set to transform political debates

20 November 2019

An OU researcher has developed a new, innovative, digital platform to harness public engagement during televised election debates. Dr Anna De Liddo, Senior Research Fellow in the OU’s Knowledge Media Institute, created the audience feedback tool in collaboration with political scientists Professor Stephen Coleman and Dr Giles Moss, and typography researcher Paul Wilson from the […]

Open University scientists marvel at the rarity of the Mercury Transit

12 November 2019

Members of the Open University’s space science community gathered together to watch a one-off celestial event on Monday 11 November. Professor David Rothery and Jack Wright, research assistant, were joined by employees from across the campus to witness the Mercury Transit. For the first time in three years, planet Mercury was visible as it travelled […]

How one NHS anaesthetist is fighting international medical research fraud

8 October 2019

Professor Kevin McConway, Emeritus Professor of Applied Statistics at The Open University writes for The Conversation about fraud in medical research. John Carlisle is a consultant anaesthetist at Torbay Hospital on England’s south coast. Unless you’ve been one of his patients, you’ve probably never heard of him. But he’s a researcher too, and he’s developed statistical […]

OU probes new star mapping technology

4 October 2019

OU researchers have received £570,000 from the European Science Agency for the next phase of scientific devices for mapping stars and galaxies. Dr Nathan Bush and Dr Ben Dryer from the OU’s Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, will use this funding to develop a new type of scientific device for space imaging applications, such […]

IPCC report paints catastrophic picture of melting ice and rising sea levels – and reality may be even worse

26 September 2019

Mark Brandon, Professor of Polar Oceanography at The Open University writes for The Conversation about the recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the growing risk to the future of our oceans and cryosphere. The IPPC – the UN body responsible for communicating the science of climate breakdown – has released its […]

Could humans live on Kepler 452-b?

23 September 2019

Professor Andrew Norton, Professor of Astrophysics Education at The Open University writes for The Conversation about whether life could be sustained on Kepler 452-b. Kepler-452 is the name of a star in the constellation of Cygnus (the swan). It’s a star that’s similar to our own sun, but it’s too faint for us to see from Earth […]

OU News

Category: Science, maths, computing and technology