Scientists at CERN claim to have broken the speed of light

foothead

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CERN reported that a neutrino beam fired from a particle accelerator near Geneva to a lab 454 miles (730 kilometers) away in Italy traveled 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light. Scientists calculated the margin of error at just 10 nanoseconds. (A nanosecond is one-billionth of a second.)

source.
 
Did they arrive in Italy 30 seconds before they were sent?....LOL.
If not then I'll quote this piece of info from the article
If these results are confirmed, they won't change at all the way we live or the way the universe behaves. After all, these particles have presumably been speed demons for billions of years. But the finding will fundamentally change our understanding of how the world works, physicists said.
 
My guess is that there's something wrong somewhere, just a mistake they haven't found yet. I know they've been looking for mistakes for ages, but it's hardly a simple thing to look for and even the best minds mess up. Could be anything from a calibration issue in one of the many machines there to rounding errors to all sorts.

Though I would love it if what they've found is true - it would be a great discovery and a great advancement in our understanding of physics. I just don't think that's going to be the case.
 
I'm just gonna put this out there....how much money has this cost? What good will it do...oh wait they say what good it will do....

If these results are confirmed, they won't change at all the way we live or the way the universe behaves. After all, these particles have presumably been speed demons for billions of years. But the finding will fundamentally change our understanding of how the world works, physicists said.


And yet millions of people die from diseases everyday......*sighs*
 
the speed of light is the maximum speed any matter in the uni/multiverse can travel. To break it would be a physical impossibility I would say.
So would most other people. That's why it's pretty revolutionary if it's not in fact the case. Big stress on the word if.
 
Space Colonization... if something can travel faster than the speed of light, then other worlds are no longer out of our reach.

Now going from accelerating a sub-atomic particle past the speed of light to accelerating a colony carrying spaceship past the speed of light... there's the challenge.

And yet millions of people die from diseases everyday......*sighs*

It's not that we can't cure diseases, it's that the people who are truly capable make much more money from developing symptom soothers.
 
Space Colonization... if something can travel faster than the speed of light, then other worlds are no longer out of our reach.

No way. Not in our lifetimes. Even if the theory is in place, which it's not, the limit of speed practically for us at the moment is definitely not the speed of light - we're not getting close to that at the moment!

If it does prove to be true, and it's formed into a solid theory, and it's used practically (that's a lot of if's) it'll be used for FTL communication wayyy before FTL travel, if either of those is even possible.
 
Oh don't get me wrong, I know that the current inhabitants will never see FTL travel, but it does open that door.
 
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