Scientists use Stephen Hawking theory to slash universe's life expectancy
Scientists have found that the universe's decay rate is much faster than previously thought.
A team of three scientists from Radboud University, Netherlands, calculated how long it would take for black holes, neutron stars, and other objects to "evaporate" via a process similar to Hawking radiation.
Their research, which builds on previous work by the same team, shows that the last stellar remnants of the universe will take roughly 1078 years to perish. That is much shorter than the 101100 years scientists previously calculated.
The team behind the new calculations used Hawking radiation as a basis for their research. In 1975, British theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking theorized that some material escapes the event horizon of black holes.
This phenomenon, explained via quantum mechanics, ultimately meant that black holes slowly decay into particles and radiation. This contradicted Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, which states that black holes do not decay.
The new research findings, carried out by black hole expert Heino Falcke, quantum physicist Michael Wondrak, and mathematician Walter van Suijlekom, were published in a paper in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.
The new research is a follow-up to a 2023 paper by the same team. In that paper, they showed that some of the universe's most ancient objects, including black holes and neutron stars, can also evaporate via a process akin to Hawking radiation.
After publishing that paper, the team researched how long this process could take. Based on their calculations, they believe the end of the universe is roughly 1078 years away. That is, if only Hawking-like radiation is taken into consideration.
To reach that number, the team calculated how long it would take a white dwarf star, the most persistent celestial body in the universe, to decay via Hawking-like radiation. Previous studies have suggested white dwarfs could have a lifetime of 101100 years.
In a press release, Lead author Heino Falcke said: "So the ultimate end of the universe comes much sooner than expected, but fortunately it still takes a very long time."
Though Hawking's radiation theory specifically applies to Black Holes, the team from Radboud University believes the process applies to other objects with a gravitational field. Their calculations showed that the evaporation time of an object depends only on its density.
Although it shows our universe may have a shorter lifetime than previously believed, the research highlights what a dizzyingly long time the universe could last – the 1078 in their calculations amounts to 1 and 78 zeroes.
The team also performed a few extra tongue-in-cheek calculations. They found that the Moon and a human would take 1090 years to evaporate via Hawking-like radiation.
However, the team believes their research could shed new light on the cosmos. Walter van Suijlekom noted: "By asking these kinds of questions and looking at extreme cases, we want to understand the theory better, and perhaps one day, we will unravel the mystery of Hawking radiation."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
The Carbon Removal Industry Is Already Lagging Behind Where It Needs to Be
It may be time to suck it up — and we don't just mean the carbon in the atmosphere. No, we're talking about reckoning with the possibility that our attempts at capturing the greenhouse gas to stave off climate disaster are already hopelessly behind schedule, New Scientist reports, if they're not in vain entirely. To illustrate, here're some simple numbers. The CO2 removal industry expects to hit a milestone of removing one million metric tons of CO2 this year. And companies across the globe have bought carbon credits to remove 27 million more, according to data from cited in the reporting (more on these carbon credit schemes in a moment). That sounds like a lot, but it really isn't. As New Scientist notes, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — the leading authority on these issues — concluded in a 2022 report that we need to be removing up to 16 billion tons of carbon, not millions, each year to keep the rise in global temperature from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming by the middle of the century, past which the most drastic effects of climate change are believed to be irreversible. "It's not scaling up as fast as it would need to if we are going to reach multiple gigatons by 2050," Robert Höglund at Marginal Carbon, a climate consultancy based in Sweden, told the magazine. Carbon capture is not the be-all and end-all. The fact remains that humanity needs to drastically reduce its emissions, which probably means reorganizing society — or at least its energy production and consumption — as we know it. Simply removing the CO2 that's already there is more like a band-aid that buys us a little time; eventually, we'll need to rip it off. For these reasons, some critics fear that carbon capture — and even more drastic interventions, like attempting to dim the Sun — could distract from the climate change's systemic causes. But there's a lot of enthusiasm for the approach all the same, both from scientists and investors. The IPCC acknowledged in its 2022 report that carbon removal was "unavoidable" — as in, essential to meeting climate targets. One popular method of carbon removal is called direct air capture, which involves sucking the carbon straight from the air using massive industrial facilities. A more circuitous approach that's gaining steam involves extracting CO2 out of the ocean, freeing up room for the world's largest carbon sink to passively absorb even more of the greenhouse gas. All of these initiatives, though, are basically just getting off the ground. And the corporate investment, which once promised billions of dollars in cash, seems to be cooling. More than 90 percent of all carbon removal credits sold this year were bought by a single company, Microsoft, New Scientist notes, probably to gloss over its egregious energy bill it's accrued from building loads of AI datacenters. This also touches on the fact that the practice of buying carbon credits can be used as a means of corporate greenwashing. By paying to another firm to "certify" that they will remove a certain amount of carbon at some undetermined point in the future, a company can report a greener carbon balance sheet without actually reducing its emissions. In any case, staking the industry's hopes on corporate munificence is a dicey prospect indeed. "I have been raising the alarm for about a year and a half," Eli Mitchell-Larson at Carbon Gap, a UK carbon dioxide removal advocacy organisation, told New Scientist. "If we're just waiting for the waves of free philanthropic money from corporations to fill a hole on their sustainability report, we're not really going to solve the problem." More on climate change: Scientists Just Found Who's Causing Global Warming
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Novartis Kisqali® reduces risk of recurrence in younger patients with early breast cancer in NATALEE subgroup analysis
33% reduction in relative risk of invasive disease observed in pre-menopausal early breast cancer (EBC) patients receiving Kisqali in 1-year post-treatment analysis1 Tolerability remained consistent, with fewer treatment discontinuations due to adverse events among pre-menopausal patients1 Rising breast cancer diagnosis rates and more aggressive disease in younger women underscore importance of early detection and care with effective and tolerable treatments that help prevent cancer recurrence2 Separate real-world analysis presented at ASCO demonstrates differences in treatment outcomes that underscore critical need to improve care for Black patients with EBC3 Basel, June 1, 2025 – Novartis is announcing data from a new subgroup analysis of the Phase III NATALEE trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of Kisqali® (ribociclib) plus endocrine therapy (ET, a non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor) in patients with stage II and III hormone receptor-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HR+/HER2-) early breast cancer (EBC) at high risk of recurrence across age and menopausal status1. The data will be presented today at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. Results at median follow-up of 44.2 months show that patients receiving Kisqali continued to see consistent reductions in risk of recurrence across all efficacy measures, regardless of age and menopausal status1. In this one-year post-treatment analysis, pre-menopausal and younger patients, who often present with more aggressive disease characteristics, experienced greater reductions in risk of recurrence and fewer treatment discontinuations due to adverse events (AEs) than post-menopausal patients1. 'As the incidence of early onset breast cancer increases, it is encouraging to see that ribociclib continues to deliver durable risk reduction for a broad population of patients with EBC, including younger patients,' said Dr. Kevin Kalinsky, Division Director of Medical Oncology and Director of the Glenn Family Breast Center at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. 'Coupled with the lower rates of discontinuation due to AEs seen in this subgroup, these data reinforce the benefit of three-year adjuvant treatment with ribociclib as a well-tolerated intervention for patients seeking to reduce the likelihood of their cancer coming back.' Pre-menopausal patients (n = 2238) Post-menopausal patients (n = 2844) Hazard ratioa(95% CI) AllKisqali = 1115ET = 1123 AllKisqali = 1424 ET = 1420 Invasive disease-free survival (iDFS) 0.671(0.518-0.870) 0.746(0.607-0.917) Distant disease-free survival (DDFS) 0.655(0.498-0.861) 0.759(0.612-0.941) Recurrence-free survival (RFS) 0.641(0.486-0.845) 0.735(0.588-0.919) Disposition in Kisqali arm, n (%) Discontinuation due to AE 179 (16.1) 326 (22.9) Dose reduction due to AE 248 (22.4) 332 (23.6) a Hazard ratios between treatment arms (RIB + NSAI; NSAI alone), stratified by stage, prior chemotherapy, and geographic region. Addressing Recurrence in Other At-Risk GroupsA separate real-world analysis of EBC patients who met the NATALEE trial eligibility criteria and received ET monotherapy found that Black patients were more likely to be younger, pre-menopausal, have stage III tumors, and have more extensive nodal involvement than white patients. After adjusting for these factors, Black patients also had worse RFS, DDFS, and overall survival than their white counterparts. These findings reinforce the critical need to improve care for Black patients with the addition of a CDK4/6 inhibitor to their adjuvant treatment3. Novartis is continuing to add to the body of evidence on the efficacy and safety of Kisqali in different patient populations. Trial design details will be presented at ASCO for the Adjuvant WIDER study, which is enrolling patients that closely reflect the population seen in clinical practice, including more patients from racial and ethnic minority groups4. 'There is an undeniable and urgent need to improve outcomes for vulnerable patient populations, including younger and Black patients, who often face more aggressive forms of breast cancer and remain at high risk of recurrence," said Reshema Kemps-Polanco, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Novartis US. "With Kisqali, we have the opportunity to reduce the risk of recurrence for these patients with early breast cancer, while we continue to offer significant survival benefit to patients living with metastatic disease.' About NATALEENATALEE is a global Phase III multi-center, randomized, open-label trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Kisqali with ET as an investigational adjuvant treatment versus ET alone in patients with stage II and III HR+/HER2- EBC, being conducted in collaboration with TRIO5,6. The adjuvant ET in both treatment arms was a non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor (NSAI; anastrozole or letrozole) and goserelin if applicable5,6. The primary endpoint of NATALEE is invasive disease-free survival (iDFS) as defined by the Standardized Definitions for Efficacy End Points (STEEP) criteria5,6. A total of 5,101 adult patients with HR+/HER2- EBC across 20 countries were randomized in the trial5,6. About Kisqali® (ribociclib) Kisqali® (ribociclib) is a selective cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, a class of drugs that help slow the progression of cancer by inhibiting two proteins called cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 (CDK4/6). These proteins, when over-activated, can enable cancer cells to grow and divide too quickly. Targeting CDK4/6 with enhanced precision may play a role in ensuring that cancer cells do not continue to replicate uncontrollably. Kisqali has been approved as a treatment for breast cancer by regulatory authorities in 99 countries worldwide, including the U.S. FDA and the European Commission7,8. In the US, Kisqali is indicated in combination with an AI as an adjuvant treatment for adults with HR+/HER2- stage II and III early breast cancer at high risk of recurrence, as well as for the treatment of adults with HR+/HER2- advanced or MBC as initial ET; Kisqali is also approved in the metastatic indication in combination with fulvestrant as initial ET or following disease progression on ET7. In the EU, Kisqali is approved in combination with an AI for the adjuvant treatment of patients with HR+/HER2- early breast cancer at high risk of recurrence; and for the treatment of women with HR+/HER2- advanced or MBC in combination with either an AI or fulvestrant as initial ET or following disease progression8. In pre- or peri-menopausal women, the ET should be combined with a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist7,8. In EBC, ribociclib (Kisqali) is the only CDK4/6 inhibitor recommended by the NCCN Guidelines® for breast cancer for both all node-positive disease as well as for patients with no nodal involvement with high-risk disease characteristics, such as tumor size >5 cm, or for tumors sized 2-5 cm, either Grade 2 with high genomic risk/Ki-67 ≥20% or Grade 39. Kisqali approvals in EBC from regulatory authorities worldwide are ongoing, including recent approval from China's National Medical Products Administration10. In MBC, Kisqali has consistently demonstrated statistically significant overall survival benefit across three Phase III trials11-21. The NCCN Guidelines® also recommend ribociclib (Kisqali) as the only Category 1 preferred CDK4/6 inhibitor for first-line treatment of people living with HR+/HER2- MBC when combined with an AI9, making Kisqali the preferred first-line treatment of choice for US prescribers in HR+/HER2- MBC. In addition, Kisqali has achieved the highest score (A) on the European Society for Medical Oncology-Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS) for EBC22; and has the highest rating of any CDK4/6 inhibitor on the ESMO Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale, achieving a score of five out of five for first-line pre-menopausal patients with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer23. Further, Kisqali in combination with either letrozole or fulvestrant has uniquely, among other CDK4/6 inhibitors, received a score of four out of five for post-menopausal patients with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer treated in the first line24. Kisqali was developed by Novartis under a research collaboration with Astex Pharmaceuticals. Please see full Prescribing Information for Kisqali, available at About Novartis in Breast CancerFor more than 30 years, Novartis has been at the forefront of driving scientific advancements for people touched by breast cancer and improving clinical practice in collaboration with the global community. With one of the most comprehensive breast cancer portfolios and pipeline, Novartis leads the industry in the discovery of new therapies and combinations in HR+/HER2- breast cancer, the most common form of the disease. Beyond medicines, Novartis is leading efforts to encourage early detection and working to remove access barriers faced by patients along their care journey. DisclaimerThis press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by words such as 'potential,' 'can,' 'will,' 'plan,' 'may,' 'could,' 'would,' 'expect,' 'anticipate,' 'look forward,' 'believe,' 'committed,' 'investigational,' 'pipeline,' 'launch,' or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential marketing approvals, new indications or labeling for the investigational or approved products described in this press release, or regarding potential future revenues from such products. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that the investigational or approved products described in this press release will be submitted or approved for sale or for any additional indications or labeling in any market, or at any particular time. Nor can there be any guarantee that such products will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, our expectations regarding such products could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; global trends toward health care cost containment, including government, payor and general public pricing and reimbursement pressures and requirements for increased pricing transparency; our ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; the particular prescribing preferences of physicians and patients; general political, economic and business conditions, including the effects of and efforts to mitigate pandemic diseases; safety, quality, data integrity or manufacturing issues; potential or actual data security and data privacy breaches, or disruptions of our information technology systems, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. About Novartis Novartis is an innovative medicines company. Every day, we work to reimagine medicine to improve and extend people's lives so that patients, healthcare professionals and societies are empowered in the face of serious disease. Our medicines reach nearly 300 million people worldwide. Reimagine medicine with us: Visit us at and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, X/Twitter and Instagram. References Kalinsky K et al. Efficacy and safety of ribociclib (RIB) + nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor (NSAI) in NATALEE: Analysis across menopausal status and age. Presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, June 1, 2025. Chicago, USA. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2025. American Cancer Society. 2025. Available from: Accessed May 2025. Abdou Y et al. Real-world (RW) analysis of characteristics and risk of recurrence (ROR) in Black patients (pts) with HR+/HER2- early breast cancer (EBC) eligible for NATALEE. Presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, June 2, 2025. Chicago, USA. Graff SL et al. Adjuvant WIDER: A phase 3b trial of ribociclib (RIB) + endocrine therapy (ET) as adjuvant treatment (tx) in a close-to-clinical-practice patient (pt) population with HR+/HER2− early breast cancer (EBC). Presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting. June 2, 2025. Chicago, USA. Slamon D, Lipatov O, Nowecki Z, et al. Ribociclib plus Endocrine Therapy in Early Breast Cancer. N Engl J Med. 2024;390(12):1080-1091. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2305488 NCT03701334. A Trial to Evaluate Efficacy and Safety of Ribociclib With Endocrine Therapy as Adjuvant Treatment in Patients With HR+/ HER2- Early Breast Cancer (NATALEE). Available from: Accessed May 2025. Kisqali. Prescribing Information (US FDA). Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; 2017. Accessed May 2025. Kisqali. Summary of product characteristics (SmPC). Novartis Europharm Limited; 2017. Accessed May 2025. NCCN Guidelines. NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) - Breast Cancer. Accessed May 2025. National Medical Products Administration. Drug Evaluation Information Disclosure: Drug Evaluation Approval Results. National Medical Products Administration. Published May 21, 2025. Accessed May 28, 2025. Yardley DA et al. Pooled exploratory analysis of survival in patients (pts) with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer (ABC) and visceral metastases (mets) treated with ribociclib (RIB) + endocrine therapy (ET) in the MONALEESA (ML) trials. Poster presented at the European Society of Medical Oncology Congress. September 9-13, 2022. Paris, France. Neven P et al. Updated overall survival (OS) results from the first-line (1L) population in the Phase III MONALEESA-3 trial of postmenopausal patients with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer (ABC) treated with ribociclib (RIB) + fulvestrant (FUL). Mini oral presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology Breast Cancer Congress. May 4, 2022. Paris, France. Hortobagyi GN, Stemmer SM, Burris HA, et al. Overall Survival with Ribociclib plus Letrozole in Advanced Breast Cancer. N Engl J Med. 2022;386(10):942-950. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2114663 Hortobagyi GN et al. Overall survival (OS) results from the phase III MONALEESA (ML)-2 trial of postmenopausal patients with hormone receptor positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (HR+/HER2−) advanced breast cancer (ABC) treated with endocrine therapy (ET) ± ribociclib. LBA 17. Proffered paper presented at the European Society of Medical Oncology Congress, September 16-21, 2021. Lugano, Switzerland. Im SA, Lu YS, Bardia A, et al. Overall survival with ribociclib plus endocrine therapy in breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 2019;381(4):307-316. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1903765 Slamon DJ, Neven P, Chia S, et al. Overall Survival with Ribociclib plus Fulvestrant in Advanced Breast Cancer. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(6):514-524. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1911149 Slamon DJ et al. Overall survival (OS) results of the Phase III MONALEESA-3 trial of postmenopausal patients (pts) with hormone receptor-positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor 2-negative (HER2-) advanced breast cancer (ABC) treated with fulvestrant (FUL) ± ribociclib (RIB). LBA7_PR. Presented at the European Society of Medical Oncology Congress, September 29, 2019. Barcelona, Spain. Slamon DJ et al. Updated overall survival (OS) results from the Phase III MONALEESA-3 trial of postmenopausal patients (pts) with HR+/HER2− advanced breast cancer (ABC) treated with fulvestrant (FUL) ± ribociclib (RIB). Presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, June 5, 2021. Chicago, USA. Tripathy D et al. Updated overall survival (OS) results from the phase III MONALEESA-7 trial of pre- or perimenopausal patients with HR+/HER2− advanced breast cancer (ABC) treated with endocrine therapy (ET) ± ribociclib. Presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, December 9, 2020. Texas, USA. Yardley D et al. Overall survival (OS) in patients (pts) with advanced breast cancer (ABC) with visceral metastases (mets), including those with liver mets, treated with ribociclib (RIB) plus endocrine therapy (ET) in the MONALEESA (ML) -3 and -7 trials. Presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, June 2020. Chicago, USA. O'Shaughnessy J et al. Overall survival subgroup analysis by metastatic site from the Phase III MONALEESA-2 study of first-line ribociclib + letrozole in postmenopausal patients with HR+/HER2− advanced breast cancer. Presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, December 7-10, 2021. Texas, USA. European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO). ESMO MCBS scorecards; NATALEE. Accessed May 2025. European Society for Medical Oncology. Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale Scorecard. Accessed May 2025. European Society for Medical Oncology. Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale Scorecard. Accessed May 2025. # # # Novartis Media Relations E-mail: Novartis Investor Relations Central investor relations line: +41 61 3247944 E-mail: Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Bloomberg
3 hours ago
- Bloomberg
AstraZeneca Breast Cancer Pill Slows Disease by Over Six Months
AstraZeneca Plc 's experimental breast cancer pill delayed disease progression by over six months, according to data from a new study that is likely to capture investors' attention. Camizestrant, in combination with other cancer medicines, helped patients with a specific type of breast cancer to live for a median of 16 months without their cancer progressing, compared with 9.2 months for those taking the current standard treatment.
