Latest articles by Ben Turner
James Webb telescope finds carbon at the dawn of the universe, challenging our understanding of when life could have emerged
The James Webb Space Telescope has found carbon in a galaxy just 350 million years after the Big Bang. That could mean life began much earlier too, a new study argues.
2 new helium leaks discovered on Boeing's Starliner — forcing NASA astronauts to skip sleep to fix them
Two helium leaks appeared on the spacecraft en route to the International Space Station, in addition to a leak engineers knew about prior to launch. The crew are not thought to be in any danger.
Stunning 'parade of planets' image shows 6 worlds aligned over Earth
A stunning photo of the recent "parade of planets" shows Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in alignment over Earth. It was captured from the U.K. on June 1.
Cutting pollution from the shipping industry accidentally increased global warming, study suggests
A reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions may have caused "80% of the measured increase in planetary heat uptake since 2020."
A 'parade of planets' is coming on June 3. Here's what you can actually expect to see.
Six worlds will align for a "parade of planets" on June 3, although only a few of them will be visible to the naked eye. Here's what you need to know about the rare alignment.
GPT-4 didn't ace the bar exam after all, MIT research suggests — it didn't even break the 70th percentile
Last year, claims that OpenAI's GPT-4 model beat 90% of trainee lawyers on the bar exam generated a flurry of media hype. But these claims were likely overstated, a new study suggests.
Scientists may have finally solved the problem of the universe’s 'missing' black holes
Primordial black holes are one of the strongest candidates for the universe's missing dark matter. But a new theory suggests that not enough of the miniature black holes formed for this to be the case.
Google's AI tells users to add glue to their pizza, eat rocks and make chlorine gas
Social media has been flooded with bizarre and dangerous advice that appears to have been made by Google's new AI overview feature. The company continues to defend the 'high quality' search tool.
Crows can count out loud, startling study reveals
This is the first time an animal other than humans has been seen performing the feat of vocal numeracy.
Euclid space telescope: ESA's groundbreaking mission to study dark matter and dark energy
The Euclid space telescope uses its incredibly wide field of view to hunt for two of the universe's most mysterious components: dark matter and dark energy. The six-year mission could change cosmology forever.
This year's hurricane season could see 25 named storms, NOAA says in record-breaking forecast
Unusually high temperatures combined with the abatement of the El Niño could lead to more major hurricanes this year.
Scientists just discovered an enormous lithium reservoir under Pennsylvania
The new source of lithium, which could meet up to 40% of U.S. demand, was discovered in fracking wastewater.
Euclid space telescope reveals more than 300,000 new objects in 1st 24 hours of observations (photos)
The Euclid space telescope has released five mesmerizing new photos of our universe, kicking off a six-year campaign to unveil the secrets of dark matter, dark energy and other cosmological mysteries.
Scientists discover the possible origin of the sun's magnetic field, and it's not where they thought it was
New simulations suggest that the origins of the sun's explosive storms could lie much closer to its surface than first thought.
Warm ocean water is rushing beneath Antarctica's 'Doomsday Glacier,' making its collapse more likely
Warm seawater flowing into the glacier's underside could significantly accelerate the process of its collapse.
'Playing Russian roulette with your health': Officials warn that social media trend of consuming raw milk will not protect you from bird flu
Raw milk sales have surged following reports of H5N1 infections in dairy cows in the U.S. But drinking unpasteurized products will cause more harm than good, experts warn.
Scientists discover bizarre region around black holes that proves Einstein right yet again
Einstein's general theory of relativity predicted that so-called 'plunging regions' around black holes would accelerate matter into them at the speed of light. Now, X-ray observations of a remote black hole have proved him right.
Newfound 'glitch' in Einstein's relativity could rewrite the rules of the universe, study suggests
Einstein's theory of general relativity is our best description of the universe at large scales, but a new observation that reports a "glitch" in gravity around ancient structures could force it to be modified.
OpenAI unveils huge upgrade to ChatGPT that makes it more eerily human than ever
ChatGPT's latest upgrade means the voice assistant can now respond to audio, text and visual inputs in real time. The new chatbot, named ChatGPT-4o, will be rolled out to alpha testers in the coming weeks.
NASA details plan to build a levitating robot train on the moon
NASA's plan to build a train track on the moon is part of the agency's Innovative Advanced Concepts program, which aims to develop "science fiction-like" projects for future space exploration.
'A dream come true': Nuclear clock breakthrough could revolutionize study of the universe's fundamental forces
By nudging a thorium-229 nucleus into a higher energy state, physicists have made it possible to develop a nuclear clock that could probe the most fundamental forces in physics. However, there is still a long way to go.
Boeing's 1st Starliner astronaut launch scrubbed due to loud buzzing valve
The first crewed launch of Boeing's Starliner space capsule was canceled on Monday (May 6) due to a loudly buzzing valve on the Atlas V rocket carrying it. The delay is yet another headache for Boeing in its attempt to get its Starliner capsule up and running.
Antarctic ice hole the size of Switzerland keeps cracking open. Now scientists finally know why.
The Maud Rise polynya has been sporadically opening up in Antarctica's ice since at least the 1970s. Now climatologists finally know why.
James Webb telescope spots wind blowing faster than a bullet on '2-faced planet' with eternal night
New James Webb Space Telescope observations of the exoplanet WASP-43b reveal that the hot gas giant is tidally locked, meaning one side permanently faces its sun while the other always stares out into space.
