23 September 2011 Einstein's restricted theory of relativity had
proved back in 1905 that nothing could exceed the speed of light
in vacuum. However, more than a century on and after three years
of very-high precision measurements and complex analyses, the
OPERA(1) experiment has led to a totally unexpected result:
neutrinos travel slightly but significantly ahead of the time it
would take light to cover the same distance in vacuum. The OPERA
experiment is dedicated to the observation of a neutrino beam
produced by the CERN accelerators in Geneva and detected 730 km
further, from the underground laboratory of Gran Sasso, in
Italy. Light travels the distance in 2.4 milliseconds. Yet the
OPERA experiment has detected neutrinos reaching Gran Sasso 60
nanoseconds sooner. In other words, after a 730 km run,
neutrinos cross the finish line 20 meters ahead of hypothetical
photons that would have travelled the same distance. "We have
set up a system enabling us to achieve synchronization between
CERN and Gran Sasso w