Faster-Than-Light Neutrinos Might Be Explained By GPS Failing to Account For Special Relativity
GPS Satellite NASA/Wikimedia CommonsA possible victory for Einstein So it turns out that Einstein may not have been wrong about the universal speed limit. Not only is special relativity safe, it provides an explanation for those faster-than-light neutrinos. They're not breaking the light-speed barrier; they just appear to be, thanks to the relativistic motion of the clocks checking their speed. As we all remember, a few weeks ago some scientists at CERN set the physics world on fire when they shared data showing neutrinos were moving faster than light. Specifically, they were showing up at a distant neutrino detector about 60 nanoseconds faster than the time in which light would make the same trip. But the rules of physics said this could not be. The Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus team (which was not looking for this result, by the way) calibrated their clocks, measured their distances and crunched their numbers...