834 search results

A brief history of the lens
Society, Politics & Law

A brief history of the lens

...technique of plotting points on a model which is still used in CGI filming techniques. This artistic breakthrough is the invention of perspective, which puts painted objects into a convincing relationship with each other: a room filled with furniture and people that looks similar enough to a ‘real’ space filled with solid objects. Leonardo da Vinci wrote about the...
Exomoons: astronomers report first ever discovery
Science, Maths & Technology

Exomoons: astronomers report first ever discovery

...technique, in which a planet passing in front of its host star, along our line of sight, causes the star’s brightness to dim slightly (by around 1% for a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a sun-sized star) once every orbit. So such a dip in a star’s brightness is a “light signature” of an exoplanet. Jupiter itself has over 70 moons, and four of these are comparable in...
Privatising Thames Water
Money & Business

Privatising Thames Water

...techniques employed, and the restructuring of Thames Water’s debt at lower interest rates could have been passed on to the customers in the form of lower bills. Yet, what seems far clearer is that leveraging debt was used instead to pay higher dividends to investors and to pay-off interest on intra-company and external loans, including those used to initially purchase...
Taking your first steps into higher education Badge icon
Education & Development

Taking your first steps into higher education

...techniques, such as the use of colour and medium give you the opportunity to explore the relationship between effects and techniques in a small selection of contemporary artworks explore some of the factors involved in interpreting meaning explore some reactions to artworks shortlisted for the Turner Prize further develop your study skills...Week 3: Art history in the...
How many different types of smile are there?
Health, Sports & Psychology

How many different types of smile are there?

...Wallace V Friesen, seeks to create an atlas of nearly all possible human expressions. Ekman says, in his book Telling Lies, that their technique for measuring the face can distinguish over 50 different smiles. Confused? You’re not the only one. Perhaps the best approach is to just grin and bear it… This article was originally published by Mosaic under a CC-BY licence...
Prospecting for water on the Moon
Science, Maths & Technology

Prospecting for water on the Moon

...techniques in the laboratory, performing ever more sensitive and exquisite analysis on those precious Moon soil and rock samples. Their findings suggest that the Moon not only contains water as a surface veneer, further concentrated in cold traps, but also within the interior of the Moon itself. The Open University is at the forefront of a new wave of missions to the...
Direct metal deposition (DMD)
Science, Maths & Technology

Direct metal deposition (DMD)

...techniques provide opportunities for much greater deposition rates compared to laser and electron beams. The heat source is analogous to a GTAW welding system, melting the substrate with a plasma arc. With high depositions rates and relatively large spot sizes comes low precision, surface quality and feature definition. The positioning system for DMD systems are what set...
Start writing essays
History & The Arts

Start writing essays

...techniques for exams and assignments. With tips shared from Professor Richard Dawkins, TV personality Matthew Kelly, former MP Brian Walden, Baroness Helena Kennedy, journalist John Pilgner and radio presenters John Humphrys and Peter White. This material forms part of The Open University course A172 Start writing essays... Start writing essays An introduction to this...