News & articles

Anyone who engages critically with the phenomenon of conspiracy theories soon encounters a conundrum. Actual conspiracies occur quite regularly. Political assassinations, scandals and cover-ups, terrorist attacks and a lot of everyday government activity involves the collusion of multiple people in the attempt to bring about a desired outcome.

In the five decades since we first started sending spacecraft to Mars, exploration of the red planet has had a poor record of success. It is only in the last few years that we have come to expect that the number of successes greatly outweighs the failures.

An OU academic has fed her research into a campaign on the dangers of mobile phone use while driving, which begins this week (9 March 2020).

OU research into the restoration of UK’s floodplain meadows has just received £132,000 from the John Ellerman Foundation.

A project which allows members of the public to engage with scientific research, has just received further funding.

Open University research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) has received a European Commission grant which provides the planetary space community free access to the world’s largest collection of simulation and analysis facilities.

The UK Government has recently published an Online Harms White Paper: initial consultation response. Dr Olga Jurasz, OU Senior Lecturer of Law and Dr Kim Barker, Lecturer in Law, University of Stirling express their views.

An OU researcher will call for educators to consult research evidence to inform their teaching in a talk during Open Education Week (Monday 2 March).

A research project supporting participants from marginalised communities in South Wales to explore heritage and identity through the creative arts has just received funding.

The Minor Planet Centre has just announced that the Earth has been orbited by a second moon for the past three years or so. But while excitement about the discovery is growing, it is important to keep in mind that this moon isn’t as impressive as our main satellite.