Neutrinos and Science Both Follow the Rules

 

In case you’re not up to date (or last September, as it were) on your particle physics, scientists said they had clocked a neutrino going faster than the speed of light. That’s not supposed to be possible, so it was big news. But last week, scientists conceded that the seeming light-speed-i-ness was due to a measurement error. So light speed neutrinos = just kidding.

Revisions like these can sometimes upset people if it deals with Pluto or the triceratops,

but if you’re upset that a scientific concept you loved is demoted or disproven, take heart in the fact that it means science as a whole is working: it’s constantly being tested and updated so we have the best information.

It’s important to point this out at a time when so many people believe that scientists are involved in some kind of conspiracy to only forward information that suits their goals, i.e. climate change, evolution, and the safety of vaccines. But the truth is that if anyone had evidence that these ideas needed to be updated, it would be out there, and science would do it.

So move over Pluto and triceratops. Make way for light speed neutrinos.