M.J. Rose

It may not seem that interesting at first glance, but the fact that black holes are now thought by Hawking to release information rather than destroying every single bit of anything that drops into them, is rather esoteric indeed. What do you think such ancient information could consist of, and in what manner do the black holes release this info? I’d like to know more. Anyone out there have any new information on this relatively recent revelation of Hawking’s (2004)?

Hawking cracks black hole paradox (New Scientist)

After nearly 30 years of arguing that a black hole destroys everything that falls into it, Stephen Hawking is saying he was wrong. It seems that black holes may after all allow information within them to escape. Hawking will present his latest finding at a conference in Ireland next week.

The about-turn might cost Hawking, a physicist at the University of Cambridge, an encyclopaedia because of a bet he made in 1997. More importantly, it might solve one of the long-standing puzzles in modern physics, known as the black hole information paradox.

It was Hawking’s own work that created the paradox. In 1976, he calculated that once a black hole forms, it starts losing mass by radiating energy. This “Hawking radiation” contains no information about the matter inside the black hole and once the black hole evaporates, all information is lost.

But this conflicts with the laws of quantum physics, which say that such information can never be completely wiped out. Hawking’s argument was that the intense gravitational fields of black holes somehow unravel the laws of quantum physics.

Other physicists have tried to chip away at this paradox. Earlier in 2004, Samir Mathur of Ohio State University in Columbus and his colleagues showed that if a black hole is modelled according to string theory – in which the universe is made of tiny, vibrating strings rather than point-like particles – then the black hole becomes a giant tangle of strings. And the Hawking radiation emitted by this “fuzzball” does contain information about the insides of a black hole (New Scientist print edition, 13 March).

Now, it seems that Hawking too has an answer to the conundrum and the physics community is abuzz with the news. Hawking requested at the last minute that he be allowed to present his findings at the 17th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation in Dublin, Ireland.

“He sent a note saying ‘I have solved the black hole information paradox and I want to talk about it’,” says Curt Cutler, a physicist at the Albert Einstein Institute in Golm, Germany…[Complete article]

My heart still breaks when I think of the Buddha statues that were destroyed back in 2001, but this recent find does make me feel just a little bit better..

Buddha statue find at Afghan site [BBC News]

The seat of Bamiyan Buddhas: The Taleban dynamited the Buddha statues in 2001

A giant statue of a Buddha has been discovered in central Afghanistan, near to the ruins of the world-famous Bamiyan Buddhas.

Archaeologists say the 19m (62ft) statue is in a sleeping position and dates back to the Third Century.

Other relics such as coins and ceramics were also found.

The Taleban blew up two giant standing Buddhas carved into the mountainside at Bamiyan – once a thriving centre of Buddhism – in 2001.

The statues, the tallest such standing Buddhas in the world at the time, were considered by the Taleban to be un-Islamic representations of the human form.

Archaeologists are working on restoring the larger of the two Buddhas in a project that is expected to take a decade… [Complete article from BBC News and a video clip: here.]

Mystery ship washes ashore in Alabama after Hurricane Ike

FORT MORGAN, Alabama (AP) — When the waves from Hurricane Ike receded, they left behind a mystery: a ragged shipwreck that archeologists say could be a two-masted Civil War schooner that ran aground in 1862 or another ship from 70 years later.

A ragged boat from 1862 or 1933 washed ashore in Fort Morgan, Alabama, after Hurricane Ike.

The wreck, about 6 miles from Fort Morgan, had been partially uncovered when Hurricane Camille cleared away sand in 1969.

Researchers at the time identified it as the Monticello, a battleship that partially burned when it crashed trying to get past the U.S. Navy and into Mobile Bay during the Civil War.

After examining photos of the wreck post-Ike, Museum of Mobile marine archaeologist Shea McLean agreed that it is probably the Monticello, which ran aground in 1862 after sailing from Havana, Cuba, according to Navy records. iReport.com: See video of the ship from iReporter Tammy Brewer

“Based on what we know of ships lost in that area and what I’ve seen, the Monticello is by far the most likely candidate,” McLean said. “You can never be 100 percent certain unless you find the bell with ‘Monticello’ on it, but this definitely fits.”

Fort Morgan was used as Union forces attacked in 1864 during the Battle of Mobile Bay.

Other clues indicate that it could be an early 20th-century schooner that ran aground on the Alabama coast in 1933…[Complete article from CNN.com here.]