article icon
Health, Sports & Psychology
Blue Monday: An OpenLearn reading list
Blue chat for a blue day: collecting some thoughts on the marketing wheeze that is Blue Monday.
activity icon
Digital & Computing
Ministry of Sharing: Are you a safe sharer?
Are you a model citizen or a menace to society when it comes to divulging personal details? Take the test from the Ministry of Sharing and find out whether you share too much information.
article icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Iron from the sky: Meteors, meteorites and ancient culture
3-4 January 2023 will see the peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower. What’s the connection between meteors, iron and Egyptian beads? Dr Diane Johnson, a Post Doctoral Research Associate in the Faculty of Science, explains more about ‘iron from the sky’.
article icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Putting algae and seaweed on the menu could help save our seafood
Sticking with our traditional salmon and tuna diet isn’t sustainable, Pallavi Anand and Daniela Schmidt explain why eating algae could expand our seafood menu.
free course icon
level 1: introductory icon
Badge icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Understanding science: what we cannot know
This free course, Understanding science: what we cannot know, investigates the boundaries of our understanding across numerous scientific fields. It asks whether it's possible that we will one day know everything, or whether some knowledge will always lie beyond the bounds of human comprehension.
article icon
Science, Maths & Technology
From Astrobiology to Parliament
Devyani Gajjar is a PhD student with AstrobiologyOU. Her research focuses on how space technologies could be used to support social justice and inclusive innovation. However, in spring 2022, she put her PhD on pause while she undertook a three-month-long fellowship with the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). In this article, ...
article icon
Health, Sports & Psychology
Why do Christmas crackers go bang?
What's the secret to Christmas crackers? Dr James Bruce from The Open University's Chemistry Department explains why they go bang in this article.
article icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Modelling the planets
Dr Julia Semprich is a Research Fellow with AstrobiologyOU. She is interested in the processes that occur deep below the surface of planets and how the interactions of fluids and rocks might create habitable environments. She talked with Dr Ann Grand, Senior Lecturer in Astrobiology Education, about her route to astrobiology, her current ...
free course icon
level 1: introductory icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Introducing technology and innovation management
This free course will introduce you to technology and innovation management and is relevant to managers and students of technological innovation. You will learn about innovation types and processes, how innovation can add or create value, and about the management activities that underpin the innovation and value creation process. You do not ...
article icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Ada Lovelace Day
Marking the day celebrating Ada Lovelace, discover the intriguing story of her life, Charles Babbage, and their role in the 19th century development of the computer.
article icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Sniffing out signs of life
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which are produced through industrial processes and by living things, are found everywhere in our daily lives. Could the presence of VOCs be used to show where life might exist, or might have existed, on Earth and other planetary bodies?
video icon
Society, Politics & Law
60 second adventures in economics: The Phillips Curve
Bob Phillips took some time out of crocodile hunting to have a stab at explaining how wages, prices and unemployment interplay.