Stephen Hawking's black holes U-turn: Bob McDonald

The famed theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, one of the founders of modern theories about black holes, declared in a new paper last week that he may have been wrong when he first proposed his ideas 40 years ago.

• Stephen Hawking's black holes 'blunder' stirs debate

Contrary to what he theorized decades ago, Hawking now believes black holes are not the final graveyard for matter that gets sucked in by the gravitational pull caused by a "collapsing" star, explains CBC science correspondent Bob McDonald.

"He's not saying [black holes] don't exist, he's just kind of modifying his idea of how they work," McDonald says, noting that Hawking now believes there may be "an escape route" for matter.

Watch player above for McDonald's explanation of the latest bombshell to shake up the physics community.

A brief explanation of black holes: