The Open University

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 […]

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 […]

Ecuador and Japan earthquakes: Expert Comment

18 April 2016

Earthquakes in Japan and Ecuador have resulted in widespread destruction and many deaths. David Rothery, Professor of Planetary Sciences at The Open University, says that Ecuador’s earthquake at its underground source was about 6 times stronger than in the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in southern Japan, and the total energy involved was probably about 20 times greater. […]

Gravitational waves, scientific theories and wobbly bits

15 February 2016

In a style all of her own, Professor Monica Grady took part in a radio panel discussion covering everything from gravitational waves and scientific theories to wobbly bits. On Broadcasting House, the Radio 4 magazine style programme on Sunday mornings, Professor Grady was joined by fellow scientist Professor John Butterworth from University College London. They […]

The Department of Physical Sciences laboratory with two female scientists representing diversity

The OU Department of Physical Sciences receives top diversity award

5 February 2016

The OU Department of Physical Sciences is one of just two departments from UK universities to receive a top award this week for its dedication to diversity and equality. The Institute of Physics’ (IOP) Project Juno Champion award recognises and rewards departments that promote gender equality. The OU Department of Physical Sciences has demonstrated its […]

Methane emissions in Arctic cold season higher than expected

22 December 2015

A major new study has found that, contrary to previous assumptions, the Arctic tundra releases at least as much methane during its cold season as it does during the summer. The study led by San Diego State University (SDSU) found that far more methane is escaping from Arctic tundra during the cold months when the […]

Is it a dwarf planet, an asteroid or a comet?

10 December 2015

When Guiseppe Piazzi reported his observations of a minor planet in 1801, he originally thought it might be a comet. But follow-up observations by fellow astronomers suggested that Ceres was actually an asteroid. So it’s somewhat ironic that the latest results from NASA’s Dawn mission suggest this asteroid is confusingly similar to a comet. Dawn […]

OU News

Category: Science