
Ben Turner
Ben Turner is a U.K. based staff writer at Live Science. He covers physics and astronomy, among other topics like tech 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

NASA Mars rover finds 'first compelling detection' of potential fossilized life on the Red Planet
By Ben Turner published
A peculiar leopard-spotted rock, found beside an ancient, dried-out river in Mars' Jezero crater, contains some tantalizing clues of ancient life, NASA said.

Never-before-seen shapes up to 1,300 feet long discovered beneath Antarctic ice
By Ben Turner published
The unusual patterns, found beneath West Antarctica's Doston Ice Shelf, could help scientists to better understand how glaciers erode.

'Absurdly fast' algorithm solves 70-year-old logjam — speeding up network traffic in areas from airline scheduling to the internet
By Ben Turner published
Researchers have devised an "absurdly fast" algorithm to solve the problem of finding the fastest flow through a network.

China's Chang'e 5 rover detects hints of water on the moon
By Ben Turner published
The hydrated molecules were found inside a rock sample retrieved by China's Chang'e 5 mission in 2020

'A remarkable conspiracy': Why is matter neutral? Physicist Frank Close explores the mystery in a new book
By Ben Turner published
Frank Close tells us about the history of particle physics, and what it means that charge in our universe's matter is so closely balanced.

Ultra-rare black hole found hiding in the center of the Milky Way
By Ben Turner published
A potential intermediate-mass black hole is hiding right next to our galaxy's supermassive black hole.

Boeing Starliner astronauts remain stuck on International Space Station with no set return date, NASA announces
By Ben Turner published
After nearly two months of postponement, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are still on board the ISS. But NASA and Boeing say they still plan to return the two aboard Starliner.

Scientists create weird 'time crystal' from atoms inflated to be hundreds of times bigger than normal
By Ben Turner published
By blowing atoms up to several hundred times their size, researchers have been able to make another type of oddly-behaving time crystal.

Google Doodle honors César Lattes, Brazilian physicist who discovered a long-sought particle hidden in cosmic rays
By Ben Turner published
The physicist César Lattes, who is honored today (July 11) in a Google Doodle, is famous across Latin America for his discovery of the pion — a subatomic particle produced by shockwaves from exploding stars.

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.

NASA astronauts say they're 'confident' Starliner will bring them home, despite no return date in sight
By Ben Turner published
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams say they are confident they will be able to return soon, but the exact date of their journey home remains unknown.

'Eyeball' planet spied by James Webb telescope might be habitable
By Ben Turner published
Located 50 light-years from Earth, the beady-eyed exoplanet LHS 1140 b could be a perfect candidate for discovering liquid water outside the solar system, new research suggests.

World's most difficult maze could help reveal the secrets of otherworldly quasicrystals
By Ben Turner published
Scientists created a maze-like fractal inspired by the movements of chess pieces. The ultra-difficult maze could help to improve our understanding of bizarre quasicrystals.

'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.

H5N1: What to know about the bird flu cases in cows, goats and people
By Nicoletta Lanese last updated
Bird flu in cows and goats has raised alarm in the U.S. To date, four people are thought to have caught the virus from cattle, but the risk to the general public is low.

James Webb Space Telescope celebrates Independence Day by showcasing dazzling 'cosmic fireworks' 460 light-years away
By Ben Turner published
NASA celebrates the Fourth of July with a dazzling image of an erupting baby star.

World's largest nuclear fusion reactor is finally completed. But it won't run for another 15 years.
By Ben Turner published
ITER, a $28 billion fusion reactor in France, has finally had its last magnetic coil installed. But the reactor itself won't fire up fully until 2039 at the earliest.

'It's hard to communicate how unbelievable this is': Hurricane Beryl is the earliest Category 5 storm on record
By Ben Turner published
Unprecedented sea surface temperatures have driven the powerful storm to form early in the year, sowing catastrophe across the Caribbean.

Shattered Russian satellite forces ISS astronauts to take shelter in stricken Starliner capsule
By Ben Turner published
ISS astronauts, including the stranded Butch Willmore and Suni Williams, have sought refuge inside their docked spacecraft after the Resurs-P1 satellite splintered apart in orbit.

NASA offers SpaceX $843 million to destroy the International Space Station
By Ben Turner published
The International Space Station is nearing the end of its operational life. Now NASA is developing a plan for SpaceX to destroy it.

Mystery 'random event' killed off Earth's last woolly mammoths in Siberia, study claims
By Ben Turner published
Woolly mammoths survived on Wrangel Island for 6,000 years after their mainland cousins had perished. A new genomic study has revealed that this final population likely died from a sudden, mysterious event.

OpenAI shuts down AI agent that was 'running for mayor' in Wyoming
By Ben Turner published
An AI candidate running in the Wyoming mayoral race has been disabled by the company that developed the technology. But its creator says he has not given up.

'Space potato' spotted by NASA Mars satellite is actually something much cooler
By Ben Turner published
The starchy-looking moon Phobos, destined to crash into Mars' surface, has been revealed in new detail by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The 'space potato' image was recently shared on NASA's Instagram.

Butterflies cross Atlantic ocean on 2,600-mile non-stop flight never recorded in any insect before
By Ben Turner published
Painted lady butterflies discovered in French Guiana — thousands of miles from their usual habitats — got there through a Herculean transoceanic flight.

China rover returns historic samples from far side of the moon — and they may contain secrets to Earth's deep past
By Ben Turner published
China's Chang'e-6 lunar module has returned from the moon's far side with samples in a historic mission. Its success is a key step toward understanding our planet's early history, and a milestone in the race with the U.S. to reach the moon's south pole.
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