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Hundreds of educational interactives, games, quizzes, videos and podcasts, plus 1000s of articles written by academic experts and guest contributors.
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Nature & Environment
Why we’re mapping a million trees and more!
Dr Phil Wheeler, Dr Nadia Dewhurst-Richman and Janice Ansine look at the benefits of trees, plus discuss the work of Treezilla.
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Nature & Environment
Is your wash day polluting the oceans?
Every time you wash your clothes, microfibres escape into the environment. And that, explains Dr Natalie Welden, is a huge threat to our oceans.
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level 1: introductory icon
Nature & Environment
Waste management and environmentalism in China
This free course, Waste management and environmentalism in China, is an introduction to waste generation and waste management processes currently being practiced in China. This course explores how the Chinese can deal with increasing volumes of waste, drawing parallels with the UK experience of waste management. It also discusses the conceptual ...
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level 2: intermediate icon
Science, Maths & Technology
The oceans
The oceans cover more than 70 per cent of our planet. In this free course, The oceans, you will learn about the depths of the oceans and the properties of the water that fills them, what drives the ocean circulation and how the oceans influence our climate.
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Nature & Environment
Why do birds eat plastic?
The photos of birds killed by bellies full of plastic waste are harrowing - but why do they eat the stuff in the first place? The OU's Miranda Dyson explains.
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Science, Maths & Technology
How do ruminants digest?
A quick introduction to how ruminants break down the plant matter they eat - equally useful as a quick revision aid on ruminants.
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Nature & Environment
Human impacts on the lives of animals
Humans have destroyed or altered natural habitats, what impact has this had upon animals?
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Nature & Environment
Rough endoplasmic reticulum: The cell city's industrial park
Why is a cell's rough endoplasmic reticulum similar to a city's industrial park?
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Nature & Environment
Cell membrane: The cell's city wall
Why is a cell's membrane similar to a city wall?
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Money & Business
Opening the wardrobe
In November 2013, The Open University asked you to open your wardrobe and share your secrets with us in our wardrobe audit.
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Nature & Environment
Understanding water quality
Please note, this course was written in 2003/2004 therefore some of the information is now outdated.