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History & The Arts
Forth Road Bridge
Scotland's Forth Road Bridge may not be the most beautiful bridge over the Firth of Forth, but it is an incredible feat of engineering and is integral to the economy of the entire area. However, rust is threatening to destroy the cables that suspend the road. This free course uses video to explore the issues associated with the potential demise ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Science for everyone as £1m pledge supports new Open University courses
People from all walks of life with an interest in science have been able to access a range of new courses by The Open University completely free of charge, thanks to a pledge in 2013 of more than £1m from Dangoor Education, the educational arm of The Exilarch’s Foundation.
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level 1: introductory icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Diagrams, charts and graphs
Diagrams, charts and graphs are used by all sorts of people to express information in a visual way, whether it's in a report by a colleague or a plan from your interior designer. This free course will teach you how to interpret these tools and how to use them yourself to convey information more effectively.
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level 1: introductory icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Design
This free course looks at the process of design, from assessing the complexity of design as an activity to exposing the difficulty in making general conclusions about how designers work. You will be able to identify innovation in a wide variety of designed objects and evaluate the impact of this innovation.
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level 1: introductory icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Basic science: understanding numbers
This free course, Basic science: understanding numbers, explains how you can use numbers to describe the natural world and make sense of everything from atoms to oceans.
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level 2: intermediate icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Bayesian statistics
This free course is an introduction to Bayesian statistics. Section 1 discusses several ways of estimating probabilities. Section 2 reviews ideas of conditional probabilities and introduces Bayes’ theorem and its use in updating beliefs about a proposition, when data are observed, or information becomes available. Section 3 introduces the main ...
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level 1: introductory icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Assessing risk in engineering, work and life
Risk is something that must be taken into account at all times when practising as an engineer. We accept risk as part of everyday life so there is a need to balance the risks of an activity against the benefits that it brings. This free course, Assessing risk in engineering, work and life, investigates how we can manage risks at work, in the ...
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level 2: intermediate icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Babylonian mathematics
This free course looks at Babylonian mathematics. You will learn how a series of discoveries has enabled historians to decipher stone tablets and study the various techniques the Babylonians used for problem-solving and teaching. The Babylonian problem-solving skills have been described as remarkable and scribes of the time received a training ...
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level 2: intermediate icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Analytical science: secrets of the Mary Rose
This free course, Analytical science: secrets of the Mary Rose, teaches you about the analytical techniques that are used in the research and investigation of historical objects using the case study of the Mary Rose. It covers the use of sonar to locate shipwrecks, and the analysis of the artefacts found on the ship, and the crew and their remains.
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level 2: intermediate icon
Science, Maths & Technology
An introduction to minerals and rocks under the microscope
In this free course, An introduction to minerals and rocks under the microscope, you will experience the study of minerals using a polarising microscope. While the study of minerals can involve electron or ion beam chemical analysis, the polarising microscope remains the prime tool for the study of rock thin sections and is the foundation of ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Exomoons: astronomers report first ever discovery
Astronomers have found the first evidence of a moon orbiting a gas giant planet in a star system other than our own.
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Science, Maths & Technology
Broken Hearts in Juvenile Dementia
PhD student Emily Coode tells us about her research into the heart problems in juvenile dementia, also called CLN3 - a rare disease.