The Open University

An artist impression oF the surface of the Planet Mars four billion years ago

Mars had climate similar to Earth, concludes OU research

30 August 2016

It has been an amazing week for the world of Astronomy. With the discovery of an Earth-sized planet orbiting our nearest stellar neighbour within a zone that could support life, we are again forced to question whether we are alone. Now, a team of scientists from The Open University and several other UK and US institutes […]

How a ‘weather bomb’ shook the Earth – and why that’s not an earthquake

26 August 2016

The Earth beneath your feet is “humming” all the time. Typically these vibrations are too faint and low-frequency for your ears to hear. But they can be detected by seismometers, the instruments designed to study the generally more powerful vibrations that emanate from earthquakes. Now researchers have used an array of seismometers in Japan to […]

Artist's impression of the planet orbiting Proxima Centauri

OU astronomer helps to discover an Earth-like planet

25 August 2016

An international team of astronomers has detected a planet orbiting our nearest star, Proxima Centauri. The research, which has been published in Nature to a global audience, suggests the planet is at just the right distance from Proxima Centauri for liquid water to exist on its surface and has the potential to support life. Only […]

OU expands Cisco computing courses on OpenLearn

18 August 2016

Updating your smartphone is one thing, but getting to grips with how the Internet of Everything will change lives across the globe, is no longer something only computer programmers can worry about. With more data, people and processes coming online, the Internet of Everything (IoE) – the online, networked connection of devices and processes – […]

What does the solar system sound like?

27 July 2016

“In space, no one can hear you scream” was the tagline of the 1979 box office film success Alien. And it’s true. Sound waves propagate mechanically as a vibration and therefore need a medium – solid, liquid or gas – to travel through. Although interplanetary (and interstellar) space is not completely empty, gas molecules and […]

From Neptune’s blue hue to Jupiter’s red spot: are the colours of the planets real?

25 July 2016

These days, we’re used to seeing pictures of planets sent back by spacecraft. Some pictures look colourful, others less so. But do they show what each planet really looks like? The short answer to this is “sometimes”, because some planets are genuinely quite colourful. Others are surfaced by rock that is almost entirely grey, and […]

OU joins new search for water on the Moon

13 July 2016

A new mini robotic laboratory going to the south pole of the Moon to search for water could “enable a new wave of human exploration of the Moon and beyond” according to Open University scientist Dr Simeon Barber. The Open University has partnered with leading aerospace company Leonardo-Finmeccanica to develop ProSPA, a miniature robotic laboratory […]

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 […]

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Category: Science, maths, computing and technology