The Open University

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 […]

Solar storms could solve longstanding paradox of how life on Earth arose

24 May 2016

It was only a matter of 700 million years or so after Earth formed and its surface cooled and solidified that life began to flourish on Earth. All studies suggest that life requires water – and we know from rocks on Earth that the climate in this distant past was sufficiently warm for liquid water […]

Advance preview: Scientific telescope aims to be a blockbuster

23 May 2016

The world’s astronomers – including scientists from the OU – are creating a telescope which they hope will uncover the mysteries of space. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will be the world’s largest digital camera and is expected to capture the biggest and best images from the universe for all to see. The OU is among a […]

OU expert on ‘pregnancy, artificial sweetener and overweight children’ stats

13 May 2016

Research into women who consume diet fizzy drinks during pregnancy has revealed they’re more likely to have overweight children by the time they reach their first birthday. The study was conducted by a university in Canada with 3,000 women. But Professor Kevin McConway, Emeritus Professor of Applied Statistics at the OU, says casual conclusions can’t be drawn […]

Everton kicks off Science in the Stadium outreach project

11 May 2016

This Sunday, at the last Everton FC home game of the season, Goodison Park hosts the world premiere of Science in the Stadium, a new science-meets-sport project from The Open University. Dr Ulrich Kolb, football fan and OU Senior Lecturer in Astrophysics, said: A football pitch is made up of around a billion blades of […]

Joe Smith, David Attenborough and Kim Hammond

Who is the next David Attenborough? You are

8 May 2016

“David Attenborough has left more tracks across the broadcasting landscape than any other human being, and his 90th birthday is a good moment to reflect on what makes him special,” says Dr Joe Smith, OU Professor of Environment and Society, who is leading a research project entitled Earth in Vision, exploring environmental change through the […]

David Attenborough in Life in Cold Blood

Happy 90th birthday to Sir David Attenborough

8 May 2016

Today, Sir David Attenborough – Britain’s best-known natural history film-maker – celebrates his 90th birthday. With a career as a naturalist and broadcaster spanning six decades, Sir David was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Open University in 1980 and has been supporting our work ever since, endorsing projects like iSpot. In his speech, back […]

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Category: Science, maths, computing and technology