Scientists at the prestigious CERN Particle Physics complex, near Geneva, Switzerland (home to the Large Hadron Collider) believe they have managed to fire the tiny sub-atomic particle, the neutrino, at a speed greater than the speed of light.

For the last three years scientists at CERN have been testing and retesting the result to ensure they have done the experiment accurately. In the experiment particles from CERN, Switzerland were fired underground to another particle physics lab, Italy’s Gran Sasso, near Rome, 454 miles away. The neutrinos arrived at the Italian lab 60 nanoseconds faster than light, (that’s sixty billionth of a second). Although that sounds tiny, in the world of particle physics it is significant, and can be measured to a high degree of accuracy. The CERN and Gran Sasso scientists have repeated the experiment at least 15,000 times, with the same result. Under normal circumstances this would be conclusive enough, however with a result of this significance further independent research will be required.

If independent research confirms the result it will re-write the fundamentals of the laws of physics as we know them. Albert Einstein first postulated that the speed of light was a universal constant, this formed the basis of his Theory of Special Relativity; and underpins much of modern physics. The consequences of his theory being wrong are unimaginable. Physicists are now postulating the neutrinos are moving in and out of other dimensions, or this may provide some tangible evidence into the world of string theory.

The scientific community are now eagerly awaiting physicists in America and Japan to confirm their results.