Plenary 6: Origin of the Universe

Please be reminded of the Sci10 Plenary Lecture on the Origins of the Universe by Dr. Reinabelle Reyes on Monday, Feb. 20, in Escaler Hall.

Faster Than the Speed of Light?

CERN says 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, making the difference statistically significant. But given the enormous implications of the find, they still spent months checking and rechecking their results to make sure there were no flaws in the experiment.

(from www.msnbc.msn.com)

Further Reading:

• Neutrinos clocked moving at faster-than-light speed (at MSNBC)
• Speedy neutrinos challenge physicists (from Nature)
• Faster-than-light neutrinos face time trial (from Nature)
• Finding puts brakes on faster-than-light neutrinos (from Nature)
• Neutrino experiment replicates faster-than-light finding (from Nature)
• How Many Neutrinos Does It Take to Screw Up Einstein? (from Wired)
• Neutrino experiment repeat at Cern finds same result (from BBC)
• Neutrino (at Wikipedia)