The Open University

Science isn’t for girls? How Amy proved her doubters wrong

5 February 2018

From a young age, 26-year-old Amy King was fascinated by science. But she was told by her school that “science isn’t for girls” and by a traditional university at interview that she was “too glamorous to be a scientist”. She proved them both wrong, and is on track to achieve her dream of a degree […]

How gender equality can help fix the construction industry

26 January 2018

The government-commissioned Farmer Review warned in 2016 that the UK construction industry was “facing challenges that have not been seen before”. In no uncertain terms, it called for major industry-wide change. The “overwhelming risks” foreseen in the review sadly seem to have come to pass. Major contractor Carillion’s collapse comes shortly after an autumn in […]

Open University helped Nathanial get his dream job in IT

24 January 2018

‘’When I started my degree I was asked by a colleague what my dream job was, well my dream job is actually the job I’m doing now and there’s no way I would have got it without my OU degree.’’ Working full time, 34-year-old Nathanial Lawrence had set his sights on a networking and […]

A huge asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, but what danger do smaller ones pose?

19 January 2018

A small asteroid passed relatively close to Earth this month, having been discovered just six days earlier. This might sound scary, but it’s unusual that such an object would actually collide with the Earth. Each year about 50,000 tonnes of extraterrestrial material (rocks and dust) hits our planet. This comes as tiny pieces – even […]

The biological reason why it’s so hard for teenagers to wake up early for school

15 January 2018

In societies the world over, teenagers are blamed for staying up late, then struggling to wake up in the morning. While it’s true that plenty of teenagers (like many adults) do have bad bedtime habits, researchers have long since proven that this global problem has a biological cause. In 2004, researchers at the University of […]

Tiny blue salt crystals from space reveal a big surprise

10 January 2018

In 1998 two meteorites fell to earth, and on them were minuscule sapphire-coloured salt crystals. Now, 20 years on, science lab equipment is finally powerful enough to analyse these crystals – and the results have been startling. Organic compounds and liquid water have been found together for the first time on these 4.5 billion year […]

Predicting volcanic eruptions – new technique developed by scientists

1 January 2018

Scientists have developed a new method for forecasting the probability of an active volcano erupting. Scientists from The Open University (OU) have developed a new technique to help predict when a volcano is most likely to erupt based on measurements of how much nearby ground swells. The ‘inflation’, or gradual swelling, of the ground that […]

Putting algae and seaweed on the menu could help save our seafood

15 December 2017

If we have to feed 9.8 billion people by 2050, food from the ocean will have to play a major role. Ending hunger and malnutrition while meeting the demand for more meat and fish as the world grows richer will require 60% more food by the middle of the century. But around 90% of the […]

A glass of whisky could help you get your head around deep time

11 December 2017

The Scottish geologist James Hutton made a proposal in 1788 that, at the time, was extraordinarily controversial. He described Earth as a “beautiful machine”, constantly subjected to long-term decay and regeneration, that could only be understood over many millions of years. This may not sound that contentious, but the challenge this posed to humanity’s sense […]

7 amazing things digital wearable devices are helping us do

5 December 2017

For the past 15 years Professor Blaine Price has sported every smartwatch and digital health wearable device imaginable, earning him the nickname of ‘Inspector Gadget’ at home. He has always been active but found that since coming to the UK, he had gained a little bit of weight. Using his personal data from the past […]

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Category: Science, maths, computing and technology