Try our Labs
Posted: 29 Apr 2020As many Universities need to quickly move their learning online during the current coronavirus ...
The OpenScience Laboratory
An initiative of The Open University and The Wolfson Foundation
This online laboratory brings interactive practical science to students anywhere and anytime the internet is available. The laboratory features investigations based on on-screen instruments, remote access experiments and virtual scenarios using real data. Several activities are available to all, while others are available only to registered users.
Come in and look around.
If you close this box, you can still see it at any time by clicking About from the main header above.
Popular experiments
A-level: virtual microscope
Subject BioA collection of slides covering animal and plant tissues in the school curriculum.
Time required 1-2 hours or more
Time required
Hominid skull evolution
Subject Bio Earth EnvExplore the features of a collection of hominid skulls and take measurements that will enable you to determine the evolutionary relationships between them, investigating the march of bipedalism through the fossil record.
Time required
All experiments (random order, page 1 of 5)
Adipose tissue: virtual microscope
Subject Bio HealthA collection of annotated slides covering adipose tissue.
Time required 1-2 hours or more
Variation in vegetation: the heather hypothesis
Subject Env Bio EarthSample virtual transects to gather data on species of heather.
Time required 2.5 hours
Ecological interactions on iSpot
Subject Env BioDiscover & record the ecological interactions among species.
Time required 1-3 hours
VM for Earth sciences
Subject Earth EnvExamine 3D specimens and microscope images of rocks, meteorites & moon rocks.
Time required 1 hour or more
Comparing ecosystem benefits with Treezilla
Subject Env BioInvestigation of environmental benefits of different types of tree.
Time required 30 mins
Planets and moons labcasts (S283, Moons MOOC)
Subject AstroCatch-up recordings of live interactive broadcasts
Time required
Time required
Pesticide analysis with GC-MS
Subject Chem Env HealthFinding environmental pesticides by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry.
Time required 2.5 hours
Quantitative PCR analysis
Subject Bio ChemReal time PCR, human CYP2D6 gene variants, gene copy number, controls, population analysis.
Time required 1 hour