Articles by Ben Turner, Live Science Staff Writer

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.

Articles by: Ben Turner

Strange holes on the seafloor appear as a closely aligned, regularly repeating pattern.

Strange 'alien' holes discovered on the ocean floor

By Ben Turner published 31 July 22

Explorers have discovered a series of mysterious, "perfectly aligned" holes punched into the seafloor roughly 1.6 miles (2.6 kilometers) beneath the ocean.

Graphic of the reentry location for China's Long March 5B rocket in the north Pacific Atlantic Ocean on July 30, 2022.

A 25-ton Chinese rocket booster will crash to Earth today. What's the risk?

By Ben Turner last updated 30 July 22

The core stage of a Chinese Long March 5B rocket is set to tumble uncontrollably back to Earth today in a reentry that China is tracking closely.

The skyline of Santiago de Chile, Chile's capital at sunset.

Earth's crust is dripping 'like honey' into its interior under the Andes

By Ben Turner published 28 July 22

Earth's crust is dripping "like honey" into our planet's hot interior beneath the Andes mountains, scientists have discovered.

China's 'alien' signal almost certainly came from humans, project researcher says

By Ben Turner published 17 June 22

Despite the false alarm, SETI researchers are still pretty sure we're not alone in the universe.

Glaciers in Antarctica are melting because of climate change.

Antarctica's 'Doomsday Glacier' is hemorrhaging ice faster than in the past 5,500 years

By Ben Turner published 16 June 22

Antarctica's Doomsday Glacier is losing ice at its fastest rate in 5,500 years, raising concerns about the ice sheet's future.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 48 Starlink internet satellites launches from SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida on March 9, 2022.

Chinese scientists call for plan to destroy Elon Musk's Starlink satellites

By Ben Turner published 31 May 22

Microwave jammers, mini-satellites and space lasers could all be used to scuttle Starlink .

U.S. Navy videos of alleged UFO sightings were previously available but had not been officially declassified.

Footage of hypersonic metallic UFO shown by Pentagon officials at historic hearing

By Ben Turner published 21 May 22

Pentagon officials speaking at the first public hearing on UFOs since the 1960s have shown previously classified footage of an unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP).

An artist's image of an alien starship as viewed from a planet's surface.

Why have aliens never visited Earth? Scientists have a disturbing answer

By Ben Turner published 20 May 22

Aliens could be forced to give up cosmic expansion to avoid catastrophe.

The FRIB's 46 cryomodules, which keep the ions cool while they are accelerated to blistering speeds.

World's most powerful heavy-ion collider to go online this week

By Ben Turner published 13 May 22

The collider cost $730 million and is many decades in the making

This artistic concept image shows an asteroid flying by Earth.

'Potentially hazardous' asteroid twice the size of the Empire State Building will skim past Earth Thursday, NASA says

By Ben Turner published 28 April 22

A gigantic "potentially hazardous" asteroid that may be twice the size of the Empire State Building is set to zoom past Earth Thursday (April 28), according to NASA.

Mercury transits the sun on Nov. 11, 2019.

The sun has blasted Mercury with a plasma wave

By Ben Turner published 16 April 22

The wave likely scoured the surface of the weakly magnetic planet.

A NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory image of the sun.

Strange new type of solar wave defies physics

By Ben Turner published 27 March 22

Scientists think this could also help to explain mysterious phenomena on Earth.

Apartment blocks burn in a bombed residential district.

Satellite images show fires and rubble in Mariupol after devastating Russian attack

By Ben Turner published 15 March 22

Over 2,500 civilians have been killed in the 10 days of the city's siege, Ukrainian officials say.

Earth's core is weirder than first thought.

Mysterious new substance possibly discovered inside Earth's core

By Ben Turner published 28 February 22

Earth's inner core may be filled with a weird substance that is neither solid nor liquid, according to a new study.

Storm waves smashed against the breakwater and lighthouse in Newhaven, England as Storm Eunice made landfall.

Record-breaking winds blast Europe in the worst storm in decades

By Ben Turner published 19 February 22

Although the storm is severe, scientists caution against linking it with climate change.

From its origin point in the South Atlantic, the 2021 tsunami sent ripples all over the world.

'Invisible' earthquake caused mysterious 2021 tsunami, scientists find

By Ben Turner last updated 18 October 22

Scientists argue that we need to build better monitoring systems to spot earthquakes of this type.

Very large space rocks that fly within 4.6 million miles (7.5 million kilometers) of Earth's solar orbit are known as potentially hazardous asteroids.

NASA asteroid detector 'looks up' to scan entire sky every 24 hours

By Ben Turner published 9 February 22

The addition of two southern hemisphere telescopes will enable ATLAS to do full sky scans.

The particle was produced inside the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

'X particle' from the dawn of time detected inside the Large Hadron Collider

By Ben Turner published 27 January 22

The particle was found by smashing billions of lead atoms into each other at extreme speeds.

Saturn's moon Mimas bears an uncanny resemblance to the Death Star in Star Wars.

Saturn's 'Death Star' moon could have a secret underground ocean

By Ben Turner published 26 January 22

Scientists have found "compelling evidence" that Saturn's "Death Star" moon is hiding an ocean just beneath its surface, furthering the search for possible life in our solar system.

An illustration of a black hole and its event horizon.

40 quintillion stellar-mass black holes are lurking in the universe, new study finds

By Ben Turner published 24 January 22

The researchers hope to use the estimate to figure out the mystery of how supermassive black holes came to be.

The 2-foot chamber in China will recreate lunar gravity here on Earth.

China builds 'artificial moon' for gravity experiment

By Ben Turner published 16 January 22

The test chamber will enable scientists to test technologies and structures on Earth before sending them to the moon.

China's "artificial sun," the Tokamak reactor, has reached plasma temperatures five times hotter than the sun in a new record.

China's $1 trillion 'artificial sun' fusion reactor just got five times hotter than the sun

By Ben Turner published 11 January 22

China's "artificial sun" has set a new world record after reaching temperatures five times hotter than the sun.

To test how important imaginary numbers were in describing reality, the researchers used an updated version of the Bell test, an experiment which relies on quantum entanglement.

Imaginary numbers could be needed to describe reality, new studies find

By Ben Turner published 31 December 21

Theories based only on real numbers are incapable of explaining the results of this new experiment.

British explorers Justin Packshaw and Jamie Facer Childs are on an 80-day trek across Antarctica. Here, a penguin waddles on drift ice in the Antarctic’s Weddell Sea.

NASA is tracking two explorers across Antarctica to prepare humans for Mars

By Ben Turner published 22 December 21

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.

Siberian wildfire have been growing in intensity year on year, with 2021's damage being the worst since record began.

UN confirms hottest temperature ever recorded in the Arctic

By Ben Turner published 17 December 21

The UN says temperatures were "more befitting the Mediterranean than the Arctic."

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