CERN observes sub-atomic particles travelling faster than light

Nothing is faster than light. It is the universe's own speed limit. Anyone who paid any attention during a physics lesson or a Brian Cox documentary on BBC2 will know this, and possibly that it travels at a staggering 299,792,458 metres per second.

But this fundamental piece of our understanding of the universe could be about to change after researchers at CERN were baffled to find that a sub-atomic particle had seemingly travelled faster than light.

A troublesome neutrino particle is to blame, having travelled 730km from CERN in Switzerland to the Gran Sasso research site in Italy 20 parts per second quicker than should technically be possible.

The folks at CERN are understandably shocked by this and have invited the wider scientific community to find any possible fault in their results or, perhaps more excitingly, verify their discovery.

Antonio Ereditato of the University of Bern, who worked on the experiment, said that the researchers have been trying to explain the results, but are stumped.

"This result comes as a complete surprise. After many months of studies and cross checks we have not found any instrumental effect that could explain the result of the measurement," he said.

"While researchers will continue their studies, we are also looking forward to independent measurements to fully assess the nature of this observation."

Ereditato added that, given the potentially huge significance of the finding, it would be foolhardy to attempt any explanation with no concrete consensus on the data.

However, the result could be the first tantalising glimpse into the possibility of a realm of science unknown to mankind, and will no doubt open up lots more debate about time travel and alternative dimensions.

Brian Cox, the nation's favourite mop-topped physicist, said that the discovery, if confirmed, "will be the most important discovery in physics in the past 100 years", all thanks to those marvellous folk at CERN.

All eyes will now be on BT and Virgin as they compete to be the first to bring 'faster than light speed' broadband to the UK.

23 Sep 2011