actually, i believe that it was theory a decade ago. i know i heard previously that black holes in fact do send some information/energy back out, though it's probably a very small fraction. as far as the state of the matter/energy that hasn't left it's hard to say, but i'd think that sending energy/matter out would suggest that things are still ordered inside the black hole but just can't be easily observed. even more interesting, all galaxies have a large black hole in the center, the bigger the galaxy the bigger the black hole apparently. the question now is are black holes some how necessary for the formation of galaxies? space is an odd place, and getting more odd the more we study it. now in addition to "dark matter" there appears to also be "dark energy" which is spread uniformly and doesn't cluster around stars or galaxies! cosmology is a fine example of how much we have left to learn, considering the vast majority of matter appears to be dark matter and the only thing we know about dark matter is that it seems to exist! not to mention the new question of what dark energy is and why. science is still in it's infancy in most fields, despite what some would have you believe. even with our best instruments we are still deaf and blind in terms of being aware of "reality" and the universe. we don't know jack! Russell McMahon wrote: > > [OT:] Hawking now says black holes don't destroy all information > > Good news for worm hole travellers :-) -------- -- proof that the U.S. media is now state controlled! Ask your' local tv station why the hell they aren't airing the news any more! Our system of government requires an informed public, with their eyes open. -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email listserv@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body