Faster Than Light Neutrinos? No thanks.

In science, there is a saying that goes something like this: It is very hard to unprint something. This saying speaks towards the inevitable fact that, once something goes to print, it is hard to change it. Because of this, there are a lot of public misconceptions of science – I’m going to put one of them to rest today.

Allow me to set the stage for you. It was September 23, 2011 when the world woke up to impossible news; scientists have measured neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light. Headlines around the world read ‘Was Einstein Wrong?’, ‘Faster than Light Neutrinos Could Disprove Relativity’, ‘Physicists Worried about Relativity’ and the like. All of the sudden, it appeared as if a century’s worth of physics and advancements began crumbling all around us. Most of these stories (and the first one I read) left you under the impression that this result was all but certain, what they didn’t say is that this result was a one-time occurrence and it hadn’t been confirmed. (As a comparison, NASA lands a rover the size of a small car on another planet in one of the most technologically advanced and ambitious Mars missions of all time, not a mention of it in my newspaper. This story was on the front page – and it isn’t even confirmed.)

To see the full article, see: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/faster-than-light-neutrinos-no-thanks/

A Cool Experiment: The IceCube Neutrino Observatory

Up until the turn of the 21st century, neutrino detectors were pretty much unheard of. This made the hunt for the plentiful (but elusive) subatomic particle a lot more difficult than it needed to be. However, we recently created an observatory that will revolutionize our understanding of the universe. This observatory just happens to be located in one the coldest, most inhospitable place on Earth. You see, astronomers - the clever bunch they are - have turned a cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice into the largest neutrino observatory in the world.

Want to learn how this observatory will help us find neutrinos and see photonic booms? Then check out:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/a-cool-experiment-the-icecube-neutrino-observatory/

Image source:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1113010258/icecube-cosmic-neutrino-discovery-astronomy-112113/