Did CERN just break physics?

If history has taught us anything it's that the "scientific absolutes" we cling to are rarely absolute...

I have no doubt that in 200 years time people will look at the theory of general relativity with a condescending nod and wonder how anyone ever believed that was definitive and immutable.

Yes, the irony of scientific method (or the publically pimped one, anyway)...

Year 1: "We know X for a certainty. It's scientific fact... an absolute."
Year 2: "Yeah... whoops. But this just shows that... errr... yeah!"

Despite what the scientific establishment would have the vast majority of the public believe, they're no less fallible and given to hyperbole than the rest of us. They stake their entire careers on a theory and will spend that career defending it to the hilt, even if they're wrong for that precise reason.

Either way, it's nice to see scientists challenge the postulates of their heros, idols and most cherished theories. More, please.
 
I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how they get their measuring apparatus in sync to that degree in both locations. :/ I wish I understood all this stuff!
 
This will come back as debunked I'm afraid... as exciting as it could be, neutrinos have mass and it is not possible for a particle with mass to travel at the speed of light, nevermind faster than it. If this was true then it would be possible to send a message back in time (I won't go into how). Information (mass) cannot travel at FTL speeds, special relativity will hold true here....

Sorry to kill the excitement!
 
I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how they get their measuring apparatus in sync to that degree in both locations. :/ I wish I understood all this stuff!
There is a standard definition of a second, so I assume they get both machines calibrated to measure that - and other measurements - the same. Then, *go team break physics*
 
This will come back as debunked I'm afraid... as exciting as it could be, neutrinos have mass and it is not possible for a particle with mass to travel at the speed of light, nevermind faster than it. If this was true then it would be possible to send a message back in time (I won't go into how). Information (mass) cannot travel at FTL speeds, special relativity will hold true here....

Sorry to kill the excitement!

Einstein was wrong about many things, and many of his theories were disproved by other scientists even when he was alive and kicking in the classrooms.

It is really annoying that Steven Hawking came down with that illness, he would be the perfect person to start looking into this, and heck, given the freedom to freely speak with others he could have torn Einstein's E=MC2 apart a long time ago.
 
The interesting thing is that it if this is true is doesn't necessarily mean that Einstein was wrong. We have yet to properly unify relativity and quantum mechanics. Perhaps they can not be unified due to a yet undiscovered fundemental difference. The "FTL" neutrinos might represent an exception that exists that supports this "difference". Such exceptions could be inherent when dealing on the micro level of QM. Basically just about all matter/energy in our universe is bound by Einsteins speed limit, but exceptions are possible when dealing with certain extremes on the quantum level. Perhaps we just stumbled across one. The lack of a unified theory suggests that quantum level particles might not be entirely bound by the laws of physics as we understand it.

Hope this is true as it could represent a fundamental breakthrough and bring us another step closer to interstellar travel.
 
lol at all the people jumping to conclusions based one one test that hasn't been verified or tested - this isn't how science works.
Most likely to turn out to be an error.
 
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