On Nutrinos

About two months ago, I read an article in the New York Times that said scientists believed nutrinos may have surpassed the speed of light. I asked Cerinthus, as he is currently writing his physics thesis, and he remained skeptical. However, it would be pretty cool. So today I read that a second experiment confirmed the original findings. However, the article mentions that theorists are having some trouble figuring out the reason behind this strange experimental data.

Because of this, while I was cleaning my room I listened to the In Our Time podcast on Nutrinos. Although I don't entirely understand, this time (the second time I listed to it) it made more sense.

Possible New Particle

A possible new particle has been found in a last gasp of an accelerator that is scheduled to be decommissioned. Apparently, due to budget cuts, Tevatron (at Fermilab), the world's most powerful particle accelerator will be shut down in September. But, in it's last few months, it has yielded a possible exciting new find: a bump in the data that could be either a new light particle, a new "force of nature" or, unfortunately, possibly a mistake in splicing data. Hopefully in the next few months the accelerator will unlock the secrets of this anomaly. Read the New York Times article on the subject.