Ben Turner
Ben Turner is a U.K. based staff writer at Live Science. He covers physics and astronomy, among other topics like weird animals and climate change. He graduated from University College London with a degree in particle physics before training as a journalist. When he's not writing, Ben enjoys reading literature, playing the guitar and embarrassing himself with chess.
Latest articles by Ben Turner
'Ominous milestone for the planet': Arctic Ocean's 1st ice-free day could be just 3 years away, alarming study finds
By Ben Turner published
The Arctic's ice cover could dip below a crucial threshold as soon as 2027, and will do so inevitably in the next 20 years if greenhouse gas emissions continue, scientists warn.
Heaviest antimatter particle ever discovered could hold secrets to our universe's origins
By Ben Turner published
The newly found antiparticle, called antihyperhydrogen-4, could have a potential imbalance with its matter counterpart that may help scientists understand how our universe came to be.
Physicists find superconductor behavior at temperatures once thought 'impossible'
By Ben Turner published
Scientists have observed an unexpected new behavior in a superconducting material. If physicists can figure out the cause, it could help them to find room-temperature superconductors.
Perseid meteor shower rains 'shooting stars' over Stonehenge in glorious astrophotography image
By Brandon Specktor, Ben Turner published
A UK-based astrophotographer captured this stunning composite image of the Perseid meteor shower raining "shooting stars" over Stonehenge.
Time might be a mirage created by quantum physics, study suggests
By Ben Turner published
Physicists have struggled to understand the nature of time since the field began. But a new theoretical study suggests time could be an illusion woven at the quantum level.
'The last 12 months have broken records like never before': Earth exceeds 1.5 C warming every month for entire year
By Ben Turner published
Every month has broken the temperature record of the previous for the past 12 months, and the signs of climate breakdown are already here, a new analysis shows.
'Physics itself disappears': How theoretical physicist Thomas Hertog helped Stephen Hawking produce his final, most radical theory of everything
By Ben Turner published
Thomas Hertog tells us how he collaborated with Stephen Hawking on his final theorem — a Darwinian revolution in physics that explains the origin of time.
NASA details plan to build a levitating robot train on the moon
By Ben Turner published
NASA's plan to build a train track on the moon is part of the agency's Innovative Advanced Concepts program, which aims to develop "science fiction-like" projects for future space exploration.
Stunning image shows atoms transforming into quantum waves — just as Schrödinger predicted
By Ben Turner published
A new imaging technique, which captured frozen lithium atoms transforming into quantum waves, could be used to probe some of the most poorly understood aspects of the quantum world.
Yellowstone Lake's weird resistance to climate change could be about to crack
By Ben Turner published
Yellowstone's lake's ice cover has remained unaffected by increasing temperatures due to increased snowfall. But this could make it vulnerable to a sudden shift.
Nuclear fusion reactor in South Korea runs at 100 million degrees C for a record-breaking 48 seconds
By Ben Turner published
The experimental fusion reactor sustained temperatures of 180 million degrees Fahrenheit for a record-breaking 48 seconds.
Mysterious object that crashed through Florida home was likely space junk from the International Space Station
By Ben Turner published
The mysterious cylinder crashed through the home of Alejandro Otero on March 8.
Opposites attract? Not in new experiment that finds loophole in fundamental rule of physics
By Ben Turner published
Like-charged objects were found to clump together while opposites repelled because of the newly discovered "electrosolvation force."
James Webb telescope finds ancient galaxy larger than our Milky Way, and it's threatening to upend cosmology
By Ben Turner published
Astronomers believe the first galaxies formed around giant halos of dark matter. But a newly discovered galaxy dating to roughly 13 billion years ago mysteriously appeared long before that process should have occurred.
Quantum batteries could charge faster by scrambling the rules of cause and effect
By Ben Turner published
Batteries could charge up by relying on a quantum effect known as indefinite causal order, whereby the laws of cause and effect are scrambled and power can move through the system quicker.
Unexpected cosmic clumping could disprove our best understanding of the universe
By Ben Turner published
The new study of galaxies, centered around a value for cosmic lumpiness known as S8, could join the Hubble tension in dethroning our best picture of how the universe evolved.
After 2 years in space, the James Webb Space Telescope has broken cosmology. Can it be fixed?
By Ben Turner published
For decades, measurements of the universe's expansion have suggested a disparity, which threatens to break cosmology as we know it. The James Webb Space Telescope is looking at it.
James Webb Space Telescope may have found the oldest black hole in the universe
By Ben Turner published
The James Webb Space Telescope's discovery of the universe's oldest black holes is giving astronomers some vital clues for how they came to be.
'Missing' blob of water predicted to be in the Atlantic finally found
By Ben Turner published
The newly discovered water mass, called the Atlantic Equatorial Water, stretches from Brazil to West Africa.
Google's DeepMind AI can make better weather forecasts than supercomputers
By Ben Turner published
DeepMind's new machine learning algorithm takes less than a minute to make its forecasts and can run on a desktop. But it won't replace traditional forecasts anytime soon.
NASA and Japan to launch world's 1st wooden satellite as soon as 2024. Why?
By Ben Turner published
The magnolia wood LignoSat is an attempt to make space junk biodegradable. NASA and Japan's space agency (JAXA) could launch it as soon as 2024.
James Webb Space Telescope finds an 'extreme' glow coming from 90% of the universe's earliest galaxies
By Ben Turner published
The universe's early galaxies are way brighter than they should be. The James Webb Space Telescope's discovery of brightly glowing gas around 90% of primordial galaxies may explain why.
Gulf Stream weakening now 99% certain, and ramifications will be global
By Ben Turner published
A new analysis has concluded that the Gulf Stream is definitely slowing, but whether it's due to climate change is hard to tell.
China is building the world's largest underwater telescope to hunt for elusive 'ghost particles'
By Ben Turner published
China's forthcoming Tropical Deep-sea Neutrino Telescope (TRIDENT) will search for the origins of cosmic rays in momentary flashes of light beneath the ocean's surface.
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