Light Still Travels Fastest

A couple of weeks ago, I posted this piece and made reference to a scientific experiment whose results suggested that some particles could possibly move faster than light. A careful review of the conditions of the experiment has been conducted with the result that the time differential occurred in the conditions that were set to measure the speed. This means that as I suspected, there was a measurement error in the set up and this created the distortion. While the explanation here requires better than average knowledge of physics, I think that it is still intelligible. As it explains, the measurement error did occur due to the experimental conditions.

I am unsure whether to be glad that my hunch was confirmed but I am still amazed that the error arose from the careful arrangement which was intended to provide accuracy. May I go on a limb now and state that time travel may never be possible. And that is not to state any new thing. 

Moving Faster Than Light?

One of the things about science is that it is based on a set of very well-understood and predictable laws. Discoveries about the laws of physics do not come too often anymore because most of the fundamental principles are well understood and applied. Of those laws, the constant on the maximum speed of light in a vacuum is taught without question at high school level.  A couple of days ago however, the Opera laboratory publicized results suggesting that they had conducted experiments that suggest that it is possible for some particles to surpass this constant.

This is still being tested but its implications, as stated in the article in the Guardian here, are undoubtedly profound. To start with, if the results are verified, then it would require a review of the known laws of physics. New hypotheses would emerge and this result would even create the possibility that time machines and short cut dimensions in space do exist. My strong hunch is that an error may have occurred but its worth waiting for verification. On the other hand, the professors at the Opera lab may have earned a future Nobel prize in physics.