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

China's $1 trillion 'artificial sun' fusion reactor just got five times hotter than the sun
By Ben Turner published
China's "artificial sun" has set a new world record after reaching temperatures five times hotter than the sun.

Imaginary numbers could be needed to describe reality, new studies find
By Ben Turner published
Theories based only on real numbers are incapable of explaining the results of this new experiment.

NASA is tracking two explorers across Antarctica to prepare humans for Mars
By Ben Turner published
NASA is tracking two explorers on a 2,268-mile (3,650 kilometers) journey across Antarctica to learn more about humanity's ability to survive on Mars.

UN confirms hottest temperature ever recorded in the Arctic
By Ben Turner published
The UN says temperatures were "more befitting the Mediterranean than the Arctic."

Physicists create new state of matter from quantum soup of magnetically weird particles
By Ben Turner published
The messy quantum soup of spin states allows for quantum entanglement across an entire material.

'Potentially hazardous' asteroid worth nearly $5 billion will pass by Earth this week, NASA says
By Ben Turner published
The mineral-rich asteroid has an estimated worth of $4.71 billion.

Weird quantum effect that can turn matter invisible finally demonstrated
By Ben Turner published
The effect, called Pauli blocking, has been predicted for 30 years. Scientists just proved it for the first time.

Ultrahot 'superionic' ice is a new state of matter
By Ben Turner published
To create the ice, the scientists had to squeeze a water droplet to 3.5 million times Earth's atmospheric pressure and heat it hotter than the sun.
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Black holes may be growing as the universe expands
By Ben Turner published
The hypothesis could help to explain the weird discrepancies spotted in space-time ripples from enormous black hole collisions.

Earth's lower atmosphere is expanding due to climate change
By Ben Turner published
The rate of atmospheric expansion has increased since the first measurements in the 1980s.
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Don't miss the longest partial lunar eclipse of the century next week
By Ben Turner published
This eclipse will be the longest one of the century, and of the past 580 years.

Politician suggests bombing erupting La Palma volcano to stop lava flow
By Ben Turner published
Aside from lava flows, the volcano has been belching out high-speed molten boulders and causing tremors.

World leaders pledge to end deforestation by 2030
By Ben Turner published
The enormous pledge encompasses over 85% of the world's forests and more than 100 nations.

Earth may be trapped inside a giant magnetic tunnel
By Ben Turner published
Scientists made the startling discovery by plugging radio wave observations into a brand-new computer model.

Nobel prize in physics goes to trio whose research alerted the world to climate change
By Ben Turner published
Their work gave us crucial insights into how complex systems behave.

32,000 mph fireball spotted soaring over North Carolina
By Ben Turner published
The fireball’s bright streak was captured by a neighborhood porch camera.

Otherworldly 'time crystal' made inside Google quantum computer could change physics forever
By Ben Turner published
The crystals neatly sidestep some of physics' most iron-clad laws.

Rogue black holes could be wandering at the edges of the Milky Way
By Ben Turner last updated
A new simulation predicts that the lost giants were dislodged by gigantic collisions and have wandered the outskirts of galaxies ever since.

Hubble captures gorgeous image of 'Einstein ring' from warped quasar light
By Ben Turner published
Astronomers use the rings to study remote galaxies and to measure the masses of the objects that create them.

Physicists give weird new phase of matter an extra dimension
By Ben Turner published
The new phase of matter behaves like a solid and a frictionless liquid at the same time

Famous Einstein equation used to create matter from light for first time
By Ben Turner last updated
The particles used were spooky virtual particles, conjured from a disturbance between two electromagnetic fields.
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Gulf Stream could be veering toward irreversible collapse, a new analysis warns
By Ben Turner published
Although scientists don’t fully understand the varying strengths of the factors contributing to the slowdown, all of them are linked to human-caused climate change.

NASA has glimpsed our galaxy's fate in three-way galactic brawl
By Ben Turner published
Despite the apocalyptic appearances, galactic mergers are a frequent and essential part of a galaxy’s life cycle.
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