Why Every Black Hole in the Universe Is Slowly Dying

Right now, every black hole in the universe is slowly shrinking — one tiny particle at a time. Quantum mechanics is the reason why. Here's the key: empty space isn't actually empty. Tiny pairs of particles constantly pop into existence everywhere, then instantly vanish. At a black hole's edge — the event horizon, the point of no return — one particle from a pair falls in while the other escapes into space. That escaping particle is called Hawking radiation, predicted by Stephen Hawking in 1974. Each escape costs the black hole a tiny sliver of its own mass. Think of a block of ice on a table — except instead of melting in hours, a black hole the mass of our Sun takes ten to the power of sixty-seven years to evaporate. As it shrinks, it radiates faster, ending in one final burst of energy. Even the universe's most extreme objects have an expiration date — and the clock is already ticking.