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

World must act now to defuse 'climate time bomb,' UN scientists warn
By Ben Turner published
The UN's final IPCC report warns that drastic action must be taken immediately, but staving off disaster is within humanity's grasp.

Monster black hole may have killed this galaxy's star-forming power, James Webb Telescope reveals
By Ben Turner published
New James Webb Space Telescope observations reveal that the galaxy GS-9209 had its star-forming power abruptly “quenched” by mysterious forces after millions of years of productivity.
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Asteroid feared to hit Earth in 2046 will almost certainly miss, NASA says
By Ben Turner published
An asteroid that was initially given 1-in-600 chance of wiping out an entire city on Valentine's Day 2046 is now expected to almost definitely whizz past us without incident.

Stunning plasma-winged 'butterfly' coronal mass ejection erupts from the sun's far side
By Ben Turner published
Astronomers spotted a massive coronal mass ejection (CME) expanding its ethereal wings as it barrelled out of the sun and toward Mercury.

Rare black hole 1 billion times the mass of the sun could upend our understanding of galaxy formation
By Ben Turner published
A rare supermassive black hole found hiding at the dawn of the universe could indicate that there were thousands more of the ravenous monsters stalking the early cosmos.

Doomsday clock advances to 90 seconds to midnight — the closest to apocalypse it's ever been
By Ben Turner published
Humanity faces greater existential threats than it did during the Cold War, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

Tonga's massive volcanic eruption wiped out unique, never-before-seen life-forms
By Ben Turner published
The island was destroyed by the same volcano that formed it seven years before.

Miniature sun with simulated gravity could help prepare us for deadly solar storms
By Ben Turner published
The tiny sun used sound waves to simulate the sun's swirling mass of plasma

Gigantic 'alien' comet spotted heading straight for the sun
By Ben Turner published
Scientists think it may have come from another solar system.

One of the world's largest lasers could be used to detect alien warp drives
By Ben Turner published
Scientists have proposed another use for the world's largest gravitational wave observatory: scanning for the ripples in space-time left in the wake of gargantuan alien spaceships.

Shock wave from sun has opened up a crack in Earth's magnetic field, and it could trigger a geomagnetic storm
By Ben Turner published
A mysterious shock wave in a gust of solar wind has sent a barrage of high-speed material smashing into Earth's magnetic field, opening up a crack in the magnetosphere.
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Nuclear fusion reactor 'breakthrough' is significant, but light-years away from being useful
By Ben Turner published
Useful, cost-effective nuclear fusion remains a distant dream, despite a small step in the right direction from the government's NIF reactor.

'Quantum time flip' makes light move simultaneously forward and backward in time
By Ben Turner published
The time-flipped photon can't be used to restage "Back to the Future," but it could help us figure out some of the universe's most mysterious phenomena.
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Solar storm from 'canyon-like' hole in the sun could hit Earth as soon as Thursday (Dec. 1)
By Ben Turner published
The hole could beam solar material outwards at speeds up to 1.8 million mph (2.9 million kph)
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2 minerals never seen before on Earth found inside 17-ton meteorite
By Ben Turner published
The minerals were found inside a slice of the El Ali meteorite, which was discovered in Somalia in 2020.
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Lab-grown black hole may prove Stephen Hawking's most challenging theory right
By Ben Turner published
By using a chain of atoms to simulate a black hole's event horizon, researchers have shown that Hawking radiation may exist just as the late physicist described.

Dozens of earthquakes swarm Hawaii as the world's largest volcano erupts
By Ben Turner published
The eruption is so far not threatening downhill communities or affecting flights

What was the US military's secret space plane doing on its record-breaking mission?
By Ben Turner published
The uncrewed X-37B space plane touched down at NASA’s Kennedy Space Station on Nov. 12 having spent a record 908 days in orbit

Should we really be worried about China's uncontrolled rocket booster reentries?
By Ben Turner published
The rocket had been circling the Earth since Halloween

'Doubly charming' tetraquark is the longest-lived exotic-matter particle ever found
By Ben Turner last updated
Studying the particle could provide physicists with vital insight into the rules that govern how all matter is formed.

1st 'atom tornado' created from swirling vortex of helium atoms
By Ben Turner last updated
Physicists have created the first-ever atomic vortex beam — a swirling tornado of atoms and molecules with mysterious properties that have yet to be understood.

A skyscraper-sized 'potentially hazardous' asteroid will zip through Earth's orbit on Halloween
By Ben Turner published
A newly discovered, "potentially hazardous" asteroid almost the size of the world's tallest skyscraper is set to tumble past Earth just in time for Halloween, according to NASA.

'Invisible' earthquake caused mysterious 2021 tsunami, scientists find
By Ben Turner last updated
Scientists argue that we need to build better monitoring systems to spot earthquakes of this type.
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