Scientists: Particles Appear to Travel Faster Than Light

sfsuphysics said:
The fuck? A loose cable is to blame? You would think when measuring the speed of particles, who are known to travel almost the speed of light, over a relatively short distance where nanoseconds matter they'd have double checked every little thing including the time it takes a particular stop watch to stop, etc.
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On the plus side, the researchers WERE able to discover this error after contacting Comcast and Dell tech support simultaneously. After no errors were discovered from switching the measurement device off and then back on again and waiting 5 minutes, the techs on the phone ingeniously deduced that all cable connections should be checked, and the error was found and solved!
 
[Tripod]MajorPayne;1038414690 said:
On the plus side, the researchers WERE able to discover this error after contacting Comcast and Dell tech support simultaneously. After no errors were discovered from switching the measurement device off and then back on again and waiting 5 minutes, the techs on the phone ingeniously deduced that all cable connections should be checked, and the error was found and solved!
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It took them so long because they were not following the instructions from Comcast and Dell Tech Support. They did not, I repeat, did not, unplug the power cord while they waited for 5 minutes. Comcast had to send in the Geek Squad to tell them how to unplug the cord.
 
I was really hoping my explanation was going to be closer to it. That being because the detector is south of the neutrino source it's spinning faster on Earth, as a result time is dilating ever so slightly so clocks move a tiny bit slower there, so when the neutrinos showed up their clock would say less time passed :D
 
Steve said:
Well, if I was on the team authenticating this....


I would start with the man made tools/equipment used to conduct the test and to measure the results. Seriously, it's not like you can go to Sears and buy a "faster than the speed of light" radar gun.

Just sayin' :D
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pxc said:
The cause of the 60ns error has been located. It was a loose fiber optic cable used for timing. http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/02/breaking-news-error-undoes-faster.html

Pseudo-scientists/cranks are shaking their scientific disbelief in anger. :p :rolleyes:
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Steve is a genius. :eek:
 
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