"Jesus MacGyver" September 23, 2011

Yo, yo non-science nerds, I'mma' let you finish but THE NEUTRINO IS THE MOST EXCITING STORY OF THE DAY. THE WHOLE DAY.

So, get ready to have your Scientific bubble burst.

Back story time:

A neutrino is a small, subatomic particle that can move through matter very quickly. They're a bit like uncharged electrons.

Photons are light, and they travel at, get this, the speed of light. I know, mind blowing.

But not.

See, nothing can surpass the speed of light, e=mc2 blah blah blah you get the picture.

But then CERN walked in and was like, "No, fuck you. We do what we want"

The scientists at CERN set up a detector at a very exact distance away from a source of photons and neutrinos. 

And the Swiss are awesome at keeping time, they're not screwing around. It's exact. 

We know how fast light travels, and it should have taken about 2.43 milliseconds for the light to reach the detector in Italy from CERN. But somehow, by the grace of Issac Newton, according to the scientists, the neutrinos arrived 60 nanoseconds before the light.

They report that their error is within 10 nanoseconds, so...

 But there are a couple of problems.

And all I'm saying here, is that this needs to be approached with caution.

Neutrinos are pesky little things, and knowing when their starting point is very hard, so it's all a little hazy. And it's extremely hard to control them, you know. They can't be tamed, flowing through plants and matter and whatnot. 

They're checking, and checking and checking.

But don't get too stoked. This might not be as big of a deal as you think.

Keep Calm and Science On

Today's rating: 6.6

Listening to: Someone Like You- The Summer Set

Currently reading: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling
Mostly Played iTunes Song: Tennessee- Theo Hilton, Toby Foster, and Ryan Woods
NaNoWriMo prewriting progress: Positive!