{
  "id": 7722410,
  "title": "The information paradox at the heart of every black hole",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/the-information-paradox-at-the-heart-of-every-black-hole",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-16T06:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Big Think",
    "slug": "big-think",
    "url": "https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/paradox-black-hole/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Black holes present a fundamental question in physics: what happens to the information contained within the matter that falls into them? According to Einstein’s general relativity, once any physical matter crosses the event horizon of a black hole, it is lost forever and cannot be retrieved. This information is then thought to be swallowed by the black hole's central singularity, never to be seen again. However, the Universe operates according to both general relativity and quantum physics. Quantum physics introduces additional properties that need to be considered, such as baryon number, lepton number, color charge, spin, lepton family number, weak isospin, and hypercharge. Moreover, the spacetime fabric surrounding a black hole is also believed to be quantum in nature. This combination of quantum properties suggests that black holes are not truly static, but instead evolve and emit Hawking radiation over time. This radiation is thought to be a key part of the process by which black holes lose mass. The question then arises: what happens to the information that went into creating the black hole when it eventually evaporates and emits this Hawking radiation? Does the information get preserved, destroyed, or somehow encoded in the radiation? This is the core of the black hole information paradox, one of the most profound puzzles in modern physics.",
  "summary": "When something falls into a black hole, where does the material ultimately go, and will it, or the quantum information that it contained, ever come back out again? According to Einstein’s general relativity, those answers are simple: as soon as anything physical — matter, antimatter, radiation, etc. — crosses over the event horizon, it’s irretrievably gone. It can add to certain properties, like…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}