The Open University

There are missing objects at the fringe of the solar system – new study puzzles astronomers

1 March 2019

Professor David Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences at The Open University discusses a new method to help see the unseen bodies that are in the Kuiper belt. In the dimly lit spaces of our solar system beyond Neptune’s orbit lies the Kuiper Belt. This a region between about 35 and 50 times further from the sun than […]

Researchers challenge sea level stats, but warn forecast still poor

7 February 2019

Researchers, including academics from The Open University (OU), say predictions about rising sea levels may not be as high as feared. But they warn that unless there is a drastic reduction in carbon emissions, sea levels will keep rising. In a research paper, just published in the journal Nature, they suggest that sea level rise could […]

Karolien Verheyen: Sarcoidosis diagnosis was my study inspiration

7 February 2019

In 2007, Karolien Verheyen was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a rare condition that causes small patches of red and swollen tissue (granulomas) to develop in the body’s organs. Her diagnosis led Karolien to find out more about how the human body functions and she registered for a module in human biology with The Open University, later […]

Institute of Coding marks its first anniversary with the OU

28 January 2019

The Open University (OU) is celebrating its partnership with the Institute of Coding (IoC), created in January 2018. In just 12 months, IoC partners have successfully signed-up over 5,000 people onto its leading tech courses at universities across the country. To date a total of 5,875 people enrolled onto courses, with 175 staff members employed across […]

Chinese Moon landing: what we could learn from this historic mission

7 January 2019

Last week a Chinese space mission made history when it landed on the far side of the moon and sent back images of this mysterious lunar territory. Here Dr Mahesh Anand, Reader in Planetary Science and Exploration at The Open University explains the significance of the mission and why it could lead to more. Chang’e-4 […]

China goes where no one has gone before – the moon’s far side

3 January 2019

Professor David Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences at The Open University discusses China’s recent successful mission to land its robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon – the first ever such attempt and landing. In a spectacular few days for solar system exploration – during which NASA whizzed the New Horizons spacecraft past the Kuiper Belt […]

From volcanoes on Mars to scarps on Mercury – how places on other worlds get their names

2 January 2019

The New Horizons spacecraft, which flew past Pluto in 2015, successfully completed a flyby of “Ultima Thule”, an object in the Kuiper belt of bodies beyond Neptune on January 1, 2019. The name Ultima Thule, signifying a distant unknown place, is fitting but it is currently just a nickname pending formal naming. The official names […]

Do you hit snooze? OU academic uncovers our sleep patterns

3 December 2018

There’s more to a good night’s sleep than we might think, suggests Dr Paul Kelley, who has created a public research project to open our eyes to our chronotype – our natural sleep pattern. If you’re prone to sleeping on the job, it could be you’re going against your chronotype. Changing your work/study hours might […]

OU plays role in making space research a public affair

20 November 2018

The Open University and European partner institutions are creating a way to open up science research to all to get involved. This will include citizen science projects among other initiatives. The European Science Cluster of Astronomy & Particle Physics ESFRI Research Infrastructures (ESCAPE) will launch its first phase in early 2019, as part of the […]

OU scientists among international team to find new planet

14 November 2018

Scientists from The Open University are among an international team which has discovered a new planet orbiting the closest single star to the Sun. The discovery features in a paper due to be published on Thursday 15th November in Nature, co-authored by three OU astronomers: Professor Carole Haswell, Post-Doctoral Researcher Dr John Barnes and former […]

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Category: Science, maths, computing and technology