The Open University

“The OU completely changed my life”

10 July 2019

Science was the one subject Ray Barber loved since he was a boy. Working as a college technician with no qualifications, he embarked on an OU degree and his life took an amazing turn; which he credits to the qualifications he gained with the OU. He’s since travelled the world with his work, including a […]

OU’s Lunar scientists take a look at living on the Moon

1 July 2019

A team of UK scientists, led by The Open University, are revealing research which brings the possibility of living on the Moon much closer. The Living on the Moon! exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition (1-7 July), created by a consortium of 5 UK institutions, brings together lunar research from the past 50 […]

Enceladus, NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

OU receives £6.7 million to expand Astrobiology research

13 June 2019

The Open University (OU) has received £6.7 million to expand its Astrobiology Research Group to address fundamental questions about life beyond the Earth. The grant is awarded under Research England’s “Expanding Excellence in England (E3) 2019-2022”. The funding was announced today by Universities and Science Minister Chris Skidmore, as part of 13 government backed projects […]

Spectacular series explores our Solar System

24 May 2019

Presented by Professor Brian Cox, The Planets is a sumptuous look at the beauty and the grandeur of eight planets, told across five episodes, beginning with A Moment In The Sun.

The moon is still geologically active, study suggests

15 May 2019

We tend to think of the moon as the archetypal “dead” world. Not only is there no life, almost all its volcanic activity died out billions of years ago. Even the youngest lunar lava is old enough to have become scarred by numerous impact craters that have been collected over the aeons as cosmic debris […]

Appendix removal: does it really increase your risk of getting Parkinson’s disease?

14 May 2019

Kevin McConway, The Open University writing for The Conversation. Recent scary press reports suggest that having your appendix out could triple your risk of getting Parkinson’s disease. Given that there is currently no cure for this neurodegenerative condition, people who have had their appendix out might be quite worried. But worrying, at this point, would […]

To the moon and back – OU student Hannah on breaking boundaries

6 May 2019

Hannah Sargeant spends her days exploring the universe. As a planetary scientist and PhD researcher at The Open University, Hannah, 26, is fulfilling her childhood dream by researching all corners of the solar system. During her career, Hannah has been involved with international research projects to support a series of missions to the Moon, ultimately supporting future […]

Shooting for the stars (and beyond)

5 May 2019

How did the planets in our solar system come to be? This is just one of the questions PhD student Vincent Deguin, 28, and his fellow planetary scientists at The Open University are exploring. Vincent is working on pioneering research into the earliest stage of planet formation, building and testing equipment that will help to […]

How did the Earth get its water? Asteroid sample gives a surprising answer

2 May 2019

Monica Grady, The Open University writing for The Conversation. Water is essential for life on Earth and is one of our most precious natural resources. But considering how our planet formed, it is quite surprising how much water we still have. The Earth aggregated from a cloud of gas and dust – a protoplanetary disk […]

Spotlight on OU Research Projects at 50

21 April 2019

As The Open University celebrates its 50 anniversary, we look back at some of the research projects which have shaped the course of OU research over the last 50 years. First ever landing on a comet The arrival of Professor Colin Pillinger (featured above) and his planetary science research group from Cambridge in 1983 – […]

OU News

Category: Science, maths, computing and technology