The Open University

Why deaf prisoners have been in a state of lockdown since well before COVID-19

13 April 2021

Written by Daniel McCulloch, Lecturer in Criminology and Social Policy, The Open University and Laura Kelly-Corless, Lecturer in Criminology, University of Central Lancashire. The pandemic has worsened already dire conditions for prisoners since the UK Prison Service locked down the prison estate last year. Following drastic changes to the regime, most imprisoned people have since spent between […]

Fukushima: ten years on from the disaster, was Japan’s response right?

10 March 2021

by William Nuttall, professor of energy, The Open University and Philip Thomas, professor of risk management, University of Bristol The world saw something never before caught on camera on March 12, 2011: an explosion ripping the roof off a nuclear power plant – Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi. The blast wasn’t actually nuclear, it was the result of […]

Furlough scheme: UK has to extend it, but there are serious risks

26 February 2021

Dr Alan Shipman, senior lecturer in economics at The Open University, writes about the risk surrounding another extension of the UK furlough scheme. Finance ministers usually rejoice when businesses and employees alike both plead for a signature scheme to be extended. But for UK chancellor Rishi Sunak, demands to continue the country’s Coronavirus Job Retention […]

Red kites and ravens swooped through Elizabethan London – and helped keep the city clean

26 February 2021

Dr Lee Raye, associate lecturer in arts and humanities, at The Open University, has written a piece which is based on their new report on wild creatures which inhabit London, focusing on red kites and ravens. We sometimes think of cities as concrete deserts inhabited only by humans, pigeons and rats. But that has never […]

Can the laws of physics disprove God?

23 February 2021

Monica Grady, professor of planetary and space sciences at The Open University, discusses how the laws of physics might disprove God, as part of The Conversation’s ‘Life’s Big Questions’ series. I still believed in God (I am now an atheist) when I heard the following question at a seminar, first posed by Einstein, and was […]

Why the World Rugby guidelines banning trans athletes from the women’s game are reasonable

23 February 2021

Looking at aspects of safety, fairness and inclusivity, senior lecturer in philosophy Dr Jon Pike at The Open University discusses World Rugby’s guidelines on participation in the women’s game published in 2020. In 2020, World Rugby undertook a painstaking policy process to address the issue of transwomen in rugby. This led to guidelines that exclude […]

Mars colony: how to make breathable air and fuel from brine – new research

1 December 2020

David Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences, at The Open University, discusses new research from Washington University, which suggests that oxygen can be made on Mars using salty water found on the red planet. NASA is planning to land a crew on the Moon by 2024, and then onward to Mars, possibly in the 2030s. One […]

Mars: mounting evidence for subglacial lakes, but could they really host life?

29 September 2020

David Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences at The Open University, discusses the discovery of subglacial lakes on Mars and if this could lead to finding out if there was, or is, life on the planet. Venus may harbour life some 50km above its surface, we learned a couple of weeks ago. Now a new paper, published in Nature Astronomy, […]

Venus: could it really harbour life? New study springs a surprise

15 September 2020

Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, at The Open University speaks on the landmark discovery of phosphine, a rare gas, on Venus and whether this latest discovery could point to extraterrestrial life on the planet. Earth’s sister planet, Venus, has not been regarded as a high priority in the search for life. Its […]

The key to language is universal psychology, not universal grammar

24 August 2020

Dr Paul Ibbotson, lecturer in Developmental Psychology at The Open University explains how psychology shapes our language. What makes language special is part of what makes us special, so understanding what language is made of and how we learn it brings us closer to our human nature. Is language special because it runs on its […]

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