Articles by Ben Turner, Staff Writer

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.

Articles by: Ben Turner

An artist's illustration of a black hole shredding a star.

Black hole discovered after ripping a star to pieces

By Ben Turner published 14 November 22

The event could help astronomers figure out how supermassive black holes are born

An artist's impression of the strange star and black hole pair.

Closest black hole to Earth discovered lurking in our 'cosmic backyard'

By Ben Turner last updated 14 November 22

How the binary system formed is a mystery

On June 20, 2013, at 11:15 p.m. EDT, the sun shot out a solar flare (left side), which was followed by an eruption of solar material shooting through the sun's atmosphere.

Unexpected solar flare smashes into Earth, causing radio blackouts in Australia and New Zealand

By Ben Turner published 7 November 22

The flare was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection that missed Earth

A Long March 5B rocket launches Tianhe, the core module of China's new space station, on April 28, 2021.

Should we really be worried about China's uncontrolled rocket booster reentries?

By Ben Turner published 7 November 22

The rocket has been circling the Earth since Halloween

Stephan’s Quintet as imaged by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

Gas cloud 20 times bigger than the Milky Way may have been left by a cosmic intruder, study reveals

By Ben Turner published 7 November 22

The cloud is a 2 million light-year-wide hydrogen stream leading from Stephan's Quintet

A MEK1 or mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1 (rabbit) protein

Meta's new AI just predicted the shape of 600 million proteins in 2 weeks

By Ben Turner published 5 November 22

Many of the protein shapes are from organisms that are completely unknown to science.

An illustration of an asteroid streaking toward Earth. The asteroid that hit Earth about 66 million years ago triggered a tsunami with mile-high waves.

'Planet killer' asteroid hiding in sun's glare could smash into Earth one day

By Ben Turner last updated 7 November 22

Asteroids of this size are big enough to cause mass extinction events.

A computer rendering of China's new Tiangong space station as seen from orbit. A rocket booster, used to deliver part of the station into space, will fall to Earth this weekend.

Chinese rocket will crash to Earth on Nov. 5. Here's what we know.

By Ben Turner published 3 November 22

This is the fourth time in two years that a Long March 5B booster has crashed back to Earth in an uncontrolled reentry.

The neanderthal's first molar from which the clues were found.

Neanderthals were 'top-level carnivores,' tooth analysis suggests

By Ben Turner last updated 28 October 22

The tooth's owner was primarily a meat eater.

An aurora spotted from the International Space Station.

Gigantic radiation storms have been pummeling Earth for at least 10,000 years and could strike again, tree ring analysis reveals

By Ben Turner published 27 October 22

One of the events was 80 times more powerful than the strongest solar flare ever recorded.

An artist's impression of a near-Earth asteroid.

A monstrously large, 'potentially hazardous' asteroid will zip through Earth's orbit on Halloween

By Ben Turner published 27 October 22

The asteroid's upper size estimate is just short of the world's tallest building.

The Trapping Zone as seen from inside one of The Nekton Maldives Mission's submarines.

New 'oasis of life' filled with ravenous sharks is found hiding beneath Maldives ocean

By Ben Turner published 25 October 22

The sharks are following micronekton, which travel from the surface to the depths at dawn.

A partial solar eclipse is seen from Arlington, Virginia, Thursday, June 10, 2021.

The last partial solar eclipse of 2022 is today, here’s what you need to know

By Ben Turner published 24 October 22

The moon will block out the sun across Europe, north Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia

Swarming bees may potentially change the weather, new study suggests

By Ben Turner published 24 October 22

Bees can electrify the air by as much as 1000 volts per meter, or more than a thunderstorm.

The faint tracings of the hidden text were revealed by multispectral imaging.

World's oldest complete star map, lost for millennia, found inside medieval manuscript

By Ben Turner last updated 21 October 22

Evidence points to the map being made by Hipparchus, the "father of scientific astronomy."

illustration of one coronavirus particle

Lab-made COVID-19 hybrid sparks controversy

By Ben Turner published 18 October 22

The hybrid consists of the omicron variant's spike protein attached to the original virus

Astronomers baffled by black hole burping out spaghettified star years after eating it

By Ben Turner published 14 October 22

Astronomers don't have an explanation for a black hole burping out a shredded star, but they suspect it could be more common than once thought.

Mars in late spring. William Herschel believed the light areas were land and the dark areas were oceans.

First Martian life likely broke the planet with climate change, made themselves extinct

By Ben Turner published 13 October 22

The finding comes from a modeling study that assumes ancient Martian life was similar to that on Earth during the same time period.

An image taken from LICIACube shows the plumes of ejecta streaming from the Dimorphos asteroid shortly after the DART impact.

NASA's asteroid-deflection mission is a smashing success, shortens space rock's orbit by a stunning 32 minutes

By Ben Turner published 12 October 22

The asteroid's orbit changed by more than half an hour.

Every eight years, the two stars in WR140 produce another ring of dust as they pass each other in orbit.

James Webb Telescope captures starlight nudging dust from a dying star into space

By Ben Turner last updated 12 October 22

The astronomers took 16 years to study the movements of the gas clouds.

Many of the carved figures, known as moai, were left charred by the forest fire.

Easter Island 'arson attack' causes 'irreparable' damage to sacred moai statues

By Ben Turner last updated 11 October 22

The fire consumed more than 247 acres (100 hectares) of the island, including the stone quarry from which most of the statues originated.

The Milky Way's central region, where Sagittarius and the group of ancient stars can be found, above Telluride, Canada.

Mysterious 'ancient heart' of the Milky Way discovered using Gaia probe

By Ben Turner published 11 October 22

Scientists found the ancient core using data from the Gaia spacecraft

The simulation shows the moon forming from the shattered remains of Theia and parts of Earth's ejected mantle.

How did the moon form? A supercomputer may have just found the answer

By Ben Turner published 5 October 22

The scientists need lunar samples from future Artemis missions to confirm their hypothesis.

The Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Hans Ellegren announcing the winners.

‘Click' chemistry pioneers who engineered tiny chemical buckles awarded 2022 Nobel Prize

By Ben Turner published 5 October 22

The discovery has enabled scientists to join complex molecules using tiny chemical buckles

Quantum 'spooky action at a distance' lands scientists Nobel prize in physics

By Ben Turner last updated 5 October 22

Their work has set the foundations for today’s fledgling quantum computers.

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