The speed of light is the theoretical speed limit for which physicist base their understanding of the world on. All of that changed when The European Center of Nuclear Research (CERN), clocked neutrinos 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light.
CERN, located 1.4 kilometers under Geneva, Switzerland, used the technology from the Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus (or OPERA for short) to accelerate neutrino’s to Gran Sasso, Italy. A neutrino is an electrically neutral subatomic particle, which have an amazing ability to travel through matter, due to its neutral electric charge.
“If it is true, then we truly haven’t understood anything about anything,” Alvaro DeRejula, a theorist at CERN said to the New York Times. “It looks too big to be true. The correct attitude is to ask oneself what went wrong”
CERN is currently asking scientists all over the world to either confirm or deny their results.
“My dream would be that another, independent experiment finds the same thing,” Dr. Ereditato said to BBC. “Then I would be relieved.”
The neutrinos were only clocked 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light, which is only .0025 percent faster. The statistical anomaly granted by the experimenters was only ±10 nanoseconds, which still keeps the neutrinos faster than the speed of light.
If the results were proven correct, scientists have to abandon Einstein’s theory of relativity, which sets the speed of light the highest speed in the universe. Along with this amazing discovery means interstellar travel, teleportation, warp drive, and time travel are all theoretically possible, which can bring science into a new futuristic age.
