The Open University

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 […]

Katharine Boulton at her graduation ceremony

“I realised not all was lost”

11 September 2019

“Even when things go wrong, there are always options,” says 27-year-old OU graduate Katharine Boulton. Despite not getting the university grades she hoped she would, she didn’t let this stop her and combined her industry experience with an OU Masters in Medicinal Chemistry. “I initially went to university to study forensic science,” Katharine explains. “I […]

Here’s why the internet will always have enough space for all our devices

9 September 2019

Andrew Smith, Senior Lecturer in Networking at The Open University writes for The Conversation about why the internet will always have enough space for all our devices. It seems that every five years, news emerges that the digital sky is falling in. Back in 2010 and 2015, rumours spread that the internet would soon run out of IP […]

Research reveals depths of plumbing system of ocean volcanoes

12 August 2019

An Open University scientist is among those to have revealed the true extent of the internal “plumbing system” that drives volcanic activity around the world. Dr Frances Jenner is co-author on a new study published in Nature, which has challenged existing knowledge of the structure of ocean volcanoes. The study involved an examination of pockets […]

Tardigrades: we’re now polluting the moon with near indestructible little creatures

8 August 2019

Monica Grady, The Open University writing for The Conversation An Israeli spacecraft called Beresheet almost made it to the moon in April. It took a selfie with the lunar surface in the background, but then lost contact with Earth and presumably crashed onto the lunar surface. Now it’s been revealed that the mission was carrying […]

Moon 2069: lunar tourism and deep space launches a century on from Apollo?

31 July 2019

Monica Grady, The Open University We’ve just celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, glorying in the achievements of three astronauts and the team of engineers and scientists behind them. From that perspective, we can look back and see what we have learned from the mission. But what if we take a giant […]

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Category: Science, maths, computing and technology