The Open University

OU brings ‘Internet of Everything’ to everyone with free online course

26 April 2017

There has been considerable interest in the Internet of Things (IoT) recently, and whether connecting data, people, processes, and things is beneficial or a risk to data protection. Either way, the IoT is here to stay and our society needs to develop the skills to process the vast amounts of data being generated. The OU […]

Saturn moon Enceladus is able to host life – it’s time for a new mission

13 April 2017

Ever since studies started suggesting that chemical reactions between water and rock on Saturn’s moon Enceladus could provide enough energy in the water to feed microbial life, scientists have been searching for proof that the right sort of reactions really do occur. And during its last dive through the icy plumes that Enceladus erupts into […]

Crumbling comet? The great debate about whether Rosetta rock 67P is breaking apart

21 March 2017

It is almost six months since the Rosetta spacecraft completed its operations in a controlled dive onto the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimanko. The landing, after which Rosetta could no longer communicate with Earth, may have marked the end of data collection from the comet – but not the end of news about 67P. The archive […]

Image of Mercury from the NASA Messenger Mission

OU PhD student names a crater on Mercury after Irish poet

21 March 2017

OU PhD student, Jack Wright has been given the honour of naming a 120km diameter crater on Mercury which he identified through his mapping of a section of the planet. Named ‘Heaney’ after the late Irish poet, author and Nobel Prize winner for literature, Seamus Heaney, the official announcement was made today (21 March) by […]

OU students invited to represent young scientists across the UK at Parliament

14 March 2017

Three PhD students from the Faculty of STEM have been invited to participate in a Science Question Time with Members of the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee. Voice of the Future 2017, which is being hosted by the Royal Society of Biology on behalf of the science and engineering community, will provide young […]

OU awarded funding to make education more inclusive

9 March 2017

The OU has been awarded funding of £480,000 by the Higher Education Funding Council in England (HEFCE) to address barriers to student success. Led by the OU in collaboration with the University of Leeds and Plymouth University, the two-year project, Embedding and sustaining inclusive STEM practices, aims to share and promote inclusive educational practices in […]

OU academic hunts for Martians with BBC Radio 4

6 March 2017

As part of a special week of Mars programmes on BBC Radio 4, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, Monica Grady, presents a 30 minute special programme about the search for life on the Red Planet on Monday 6 March 2017, 21:00. In Hunting the Martians, Professor Grady explores the balance of evidence for Mars […]

OU research informs prominent IT gender report in India

28 February 2017

Open University researchers have co-produced the latest edition of a high-profile report on the state of the IT industry in India and female participation in particular. The OU’s researchers produced the spring edition of the 2017 Women in IT Scorecard-India with the support of India’s leading IT trade association, NASSCOM. This aims to improve understanding of the make-up […]

Solar system with seven Earth-like planets found around nearby star – here’s what they could be like

22 February 2017

There have been many discoveries of potentially habitable planets orbiting stars other than our own over the last few years. Now things are getting even more exciting. Scientists have documented a star surrounded by no fewer than seven Earth-like planets – several or all of which could be at the right temperature for liquid water, […]

Organic molecules found on giant asteroid Ceres – why that’s such a huge deal

17 February 2017

Sometimes, I think scientists are just that little bit too modest. A new paper in Science has a humdinger of a title: “Localized aliphatic organic material on the surface of Ceres”. It doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue and may not even seem that important. But what the researchers have discovered is a huge deal. […]

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Category: Science, maths, computing and technology