It's light Jim, but not as we know it...

[TimberWolf]

Live webcast

[v8gaz]

All this proves is that scientific method is complete baloney, and by extrapolation, that means that all Global Warming research is now automatically valid.

Probably.

[original PM]

Well quite clearly the only explabnation is that there is black hole along the path which is warping space/time in such a way as to render the actual distance slightly shorter than the measured distance thus conserving the sanctity of C.

[PAH]

Or these particles are tiny time machines.

Also explains the theory that certain elements in the universe are linked regardless of distance (and therefore capable of faster than light transference), as discovered in that experiment to transmit 'something' using teleportation.

[TimberWolf]

Okay, he's making his conclusions now and making excuses. Maybe now we get the questions.

[TimberWolf]

<guy with thick glasses stands up and asks, but what about xyz> <thinks> "Oh ****, didn't think of that"

[TimberWolf]

It makes your heart sink a bit seeing this cross examination. Its like having written a program and wanting it to be tested to destruction and for any errors to be found before it goes live, but still wishing it was right and perhaps even defending its litte features.

[TimberWolf]

Yah, a nutter got in. And said if you check your mail you will see that I wrote to you saying the faster than light was possible in Special Relativity. <brief awkward silence> He just came in. Next question please.

[OwlHoot]

I suspect they have simply measured something wrong, how far would their distance measurement have to be off? About 20m i think, quite a big mistake for a physics experiment.

What about frame dragging or something?

Everyone knows that Relativity (special & general) don't explicitly take account of quantum effects, and physicists have long realized that the Uncertainty Principle allows elementary particles and photons to travel slightly faster than light for a very short time (and while so doing go back in time!). This is nothing new really - It's a storm in a teacup.

see Wikipedia's article Faster than light

The uncertainty principle implies that individual photons may travel for short distances at speeds somewhat faster (or slower) than c, even in a vacuum; this possibility must be taken into account when enumerating Feynman diagrams for a particle interaction.[22] It has since been proven that not even a single photon may travel faster than "c".

TBO, I'm not sure about the implication of the final sentence, which seems to contradict the preceding. Maybe it's a typo.

[TimberWolf]

Everyone knows that Relativity (special & general) don't explicitly take account of quantum effects, and physicists have long realized that the Uncertainty Principle allows elementary particles and photons to travel slightly faster than light for a very short time (and while so doing go back in time!). This is nothing new really - It's a storm in a teacup.

see Wikipedia's article Faster than light



TBO, I'm not sure about the implication of the final sentence, which seems to contradict the preceding. Maybe it's a typo.

Yeah, we know Relativity breaks down at the quantum level (together with lots of other familiar things such as time, space and mass), and were getting a bit suspicious about it at very large scales too. But this anomaly is at normal scales. A big deal! Possibly the biggest deal ever IMO, if in the unlikely event it turns out to be correct.

incidentally General Relativistic type effects were briefly mentioned, but these would be far too small to be significant. On the order of microns difference I think.