CERN records particles travelling faster than light

[itsnotarace]

http://io9.com/5842947/scientific-breakthrough-phy...

Reuters said:

Antonio Ereditato, who works at the CERN particle physics center on the Franco-Swiss border, told Reuters that measurements over three years showed the neutrinos moving 60 nanoseconds quicker than light over a distance of 730 km between Geneva and Gran Sasso, Italy.

"We have high confidence in our results. But we need other colleagues to do their tests and confirm them," he said.

If confirmed, the discovery would overturn a key part of Albert Einstein's 1905 theory of special relativity, which says that nothing in the universe can travel faster than light.

Pretty astounding if confirmed

[Marf]

[Spock]Fascinating[/Spock]

[Brink]

Actually that's now nothing can travel faster then light and carry data. It's possible to get a frequency carried phase to go FTL but when you try to add data, it slows down again.

I think the updated rule is that data can not go FTL, while certain non-data carrying entities can.

[LeoSayer]

It's not quite sub-space messages and warp speed, but it's very exciting.

[Melvin Udall]

Things could well get very exciting!

[Rotary Madness]

I thought the whole thing with the speed of light was nothing with mass could go C or faster than C?

[NismoGT]

Thats the theory of relativity gone out of the window then. Back to square one.

[Melvin Udall]

NismoGT said:

Thats the theory of relativity gone out of the window then. Back to square one.

Well, they will have to confirm it first, and thwn see what the repercussions are. Like the Higgs Bosun, this could well mean that things have to be revised, altered, and re-examined. As with most things in science, it is seldom back to square one.

[ewenm]

NismoGT said:

Thats the theory of relativity gone out of the window then. Back to square one.

If confirmed and repeated independently. Then there will be significant time generating new theories that explain everything relativity does plus these new findings. Not really square one.

[NismoGT]

I was joking guys.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Einstein was not a handsome fellow
nobody ever called him al
he had a long moustache to pull on
it was yellow
I don't believe he ever had a girl.
One thing he missed out in his theory
of time and space and relativity
is something that makes it very clear he
was never gonna score like you and me
he didn't know about

quark strangeness and charm
quark strangeness and charm

[Kinky]

Discussed here already: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...