The Open University

Three Open University soapbox scientists in their lab coats

Soapbox Science: Raising the profile of women in science

5 July 2016

A trio of female scientists from the OU will be sharing their love of science at the first ever Milton Keynes Soapbox Science event. Claire Batty, a researcher; Dr Julia Cooke, a lecturer in ecology; and PhD researcher Vibha Srivastava will each ‘stand on their soapboxes’ at Middleton Hall at thecentre:mk in Milton Keynes from […]

OU showcases pioneering space research at Royal Society exhibition

30 June 2016

The OU will be showcasing the results of its pioneering research from the Rosetta spacecraft at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2016. The comet revealed: Rosetta and Philae at Comet 67P will exhibit research collected from the European Space Agency (ESA) Rosetta Mission, and will be supported by the OU and other partners*. OU researchers led […]

Lisa Kaltenegger, Director of the Carl Sagan Institute and Associate Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University, has been name the inaugural recipient of the astrobiology award by The Open University (OU).

OU names first recipient of astrobiology legacy award

29 June 2016

The first recipient of an astrobiology award in memory of the late Professor Barrie Jones – an OU astrobiologist – has been named. Lisa Kaltenegger, Director of the Cornell Carl Sagan Institute and Associate Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University, New York, has been named the inaugural recipient of the Barrie Jones Award. It recognises an […]

Radio 4 shines a light on OU academic

29 June 2016

One of the OU’s leading academics has been recounting her career studying volcanoes on BBC Radio 4’s The Life Scientific. Professor Hazel Rymer has recently been appointed the OU’s Pro Vice-Chancellor for Learning, Teaching and Innovation. However, her career to date has been spent as a leading volcanologist, travelling the globe to study the world’s […]

Urban heat loss ‘major influence on climate change’, concludes OU study

20 June 2016

A study led by The Open University has concluded that man-made heat loss is one of the main contributing factors to national temperature variations. Published in the American Geophysical Union (AGU) journal, Earth’s Future, and developed in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, ‘From Urban to National Heat Island’ has established a strong correlation between […]

International Space Station experiment journeys back to Earth with Tim Peake

17 June 2016

British Astronaut, Tim Peake, returns from a six-month mission to the International Space Station (ISS). We spoke to Lecturer in Ecology, Dr Karen Olsson-Francis, about an experiment supported by the OU that is on the journey with Tim back to Earth. What is the experiment that the OU has supported? “The BIOMEX (Biology and Mars […]

Three OU scientists in front of a computer screen

Sniffing out life on Mars: mid-cruise check-out (and it’s 1-0 to England)

14 June 2016

Data is currently being received and reviewed from the ExoMars Mission – the launch of a spacecraft in March to demonstrate Europe’s first ever landing on Mars later this year, and an attempt to sniff out signs of life on the Red Planet. The ExoMars Orbiter is carrying an instrument with significant OU involvement which […]

Q&A: Astronaut Ron Garan – space travel for all will make the Earth a better place

13 June 2016

Professor Monica Grady explains why she thinks space travel will make earth a better place to live. There is a small but growing set of people who have had the opportunity to see the Earth as a planet, and view its changing seasons and weather patterns from above. Astronauts are a rare breed: men, and, […]

Asteroids most likely delivered water to the moon – here’s how we cracked it

1 June 2016

One of the moon’s greatest mysteries has long been whether it has any water. During the Apollo era in 1960s and 70s, scientists were convinced it was dry and dusty – estimating there was less than one part in a billion water. However, over the last decade, analyses of lunar samples have revealed that there […]

A comet, cancer and the space in between

26 May 2016

Space, it’s very out there. The exploration of the stars, galaxies and moons is all very exciting but it can seem a bit removed from our everyday lives. Things are different at The Open University, where space exploration is not done in isolation. Take the Rosetta Mission: This ground-breaking mission involved the OU creating the Ptolemy […]

OU News

Category: Science, maths, computing and technology