The Conversation is an independent source of news and views, sourced from the academic and research community and delivered direct to the public. Each week we'll re-publish some of the best articles by OU academics here on OU News.
The prime minister has pledged to double the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds entering higher education by 2020. David Cameron has signalled an all-out attack…
It was one of those moments you’ll never forget. Thirty years ago, the Challenger space shuttle exploded 73 seconds after launch. In an instant, a dream…
David Cameron used an article in The Times and an interview on Radio 4’s Today show to announce £20m of extra funding to provide English lessons…
Debt is cheap right now, but only if you can get someone to offer you a deal. The low interest rate environment has pushed rates on…
Female virginity, we’re increasingly told, is a psychological rather than a physical condition. It’s not something that can be “lost” or “taken”. Not every woman has…
As 2015 drew to a close, you could have been forgiven for cautious optimism as far as Saudi-Iranian relations were concerned. With the years-in-the-making nuclear deal…
It has been a busy year for Solar System exploration – and particularly our galactic neighbourhood’s small icy bodies. Comets, asteroids, Kuiper Belt Objects and planetary…
At 3pm on Christmas Eve, millions of radios around the world will be tuned to the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College Chapel…
Main picture: “The Friends of the People”, Isaac Cruikshank (1764–1811), Mary Mark Ockerbloom While emigration into Britain has often been (and still is) associated with fear of…
Main image: Mark Menzies, CC BY-NC-SA Unless you are C3-PO, fluent in more than six million forms of communication, you may not understand every Star Wars language.…
