Latest articles by Ben Turner
Earth's '2nd moon' escapes our planet's orbit — will it ever return?
The mini-moon 2024 PT5, which has been orbiting Earth for two months and is likely a chunk of the moon, will now drift away from our planet in an orbit around the sun.
Scientists detect the most powerful cosmic rays ever — and their unknown source could be close to Earth
New research reports the most powerful cosmic rays ever detected. Because the rays lose energy as they travel through space, their detection at high energies means they are likely coming from sources relatively close to Earth.
Key Atlantic current is weakening much faster than scientists had predicted
A current key to stabilizing climates across the Atlantic and beyond could be one-third weaker by 2040, a new study has revealed.
Astronomers spot 1 of the most powerful 'sonic booms' in the universe as massive galaxy crashes into its neighbors
A shockwave caused by the galaxy NGC 7318b slamming into four other galaxies is akin to a "sonic boom from a jet fighter." Astronomers hope the event will reveal vital secrets about the often-violent evolution of our universe.
Gotta Catch 'Em All: How Pokémon Go covertly captured your data for years to train a massive AI model
Niantic, the company behind Pokémon Go, has been scraping users’ scans of the world to build a model that will help robots navigate physical space. Some experts are worried about the potential applications.
'A harbinger of what's to come:' NASA satellites show massive drop in global freshwater levels
NASA satellites discovered that Earth's surface has lost enough water to empty Lake Erie two and a half times since 2015. And the problem could be here to stay.
Scientists analyze largest map of the universe ever created — and it proves Einstein right yet again
The largest survey of our universe ever conducted suggests that it closely matches the model most favored by cosmologists. It's unclear what this means for alternative theories attempting to explain bizarre discrepancies.
'Bomb cyclone' bringing high winds to West Coast seen from space in stunning timelapse
A low-pressure system will bring extreme gales and heavy rain to the West Coast over the next three days.
Mass child sacrifices in 15th-century Mexico were a desperate attempt to appease rain god and end devastating drought
The sacrifice of at least 42 children in Tenochtitlán, now Mexico City, was an effort to calm the anger of the Aztec rain god during a devastating drought, researchers have revealed.
'The bottom line is, I told you so': JWST observations upend standard model of how galaxies form, new study claims
The James Webb Space Telescope's discovery of unusually bright and massive galaxies soon after the Big Bang has cast doubt on the standard model of galaxy evolution and bolstered a rival theory for how physics may work on large scales, according to a team of astronomers.
We've been wrong about Uranus for nearly 40 years, new analysis of Voyager 2 data reveals
Voyager 2's 1986 flyby of Uranus, the main source of our knowledge of the icy planet, could have come at the same time as a weird plasma burst from the sun.
James Webb Space Telescope discovers mysterious 'red monster' galaxies so large they shouldn't exist
The James Webb telescope has spotted three gigantic "red monster" galaxies that were spawned soon after the Big Bang. They're so large they could rewrite the laws of galactic evolution.
Global carbon emissions reach new record high in 2024, with no end in sight, scientists say
There is a 50% chance that global warming will consistently exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next six years, according to a new report.
Extremely rare 'failed supernova' may have erased a star from the night sky without a trace
An artist's rendering of a black hole
'Webb has shown us they are clearly wrong': How astrophysicist Sophie Koudmani's research on supermassive black holes is rewriting the history of our universe
How did supermassive black holes get big so fast? Astrophysicist Souphie Koudmani tells us how she and her colleagues are finding out.
Black holes could be driving the expansion of the universe, new study suggests
An artist's rendering of a black hole
1st image of Milky Way's 'black hole heart' has errors, study claims
The image of Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope.
Our brains can understand written sentences in the 'blink of an eye,' study reveals
Language processing happens at speeds significantly faster than it takes to speak one word aloud.
'We don't really consider it low probability anymore': Collapse of key Atlantic current could have catastrophic impacts, says oceanographer Stefan Rahmstorf
A visualization from space of the Gulf Stream as it unfurls across the North Atlantic Ocean.
Fool's Gold is driving a new accelerating climate feedback loop in Canada
A hut sits at an altidue of 1,800 meters near the Mackenzie Mountains in Yukon, Canada.
Boeing-made satellite shatters in orbit, and nobody knows why
Intelsat 39 being launched from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket in 2019.
Euclid telescope reveals 1st section of largest-ever 3D map of the universe — and there's still 99% to go
The first piece of the Euclid space telescope's map of the universe is crammed with 14 million galaxies and 100 million sources of light. The mapping project is now 1% done.
Largest known prime number, spanning 41 million digits, discovered by amateur mathematician using free software
A draw housing six Sapphire Technology AMD graphics processing units (GPUs).
'Precipitation, the source of all fresh water, can no longer be relied upon': Global water cycle pushed out of balance 'for 1st time in human history'
Residents of Snjay Camp in New Delhi fill plastic containers with water from a tanker in June 2026. Severe heatwaves mean that some areas of India's capital experience water shortages in the summer.
