El Reg: As you might expect, the story has been greeted by “break the laws of physics” and “Einstein wrong!” headlines all over the world. This is both bad science and bad for science, and needs to be dealt with.
If relativity is “wrong”, which is how some people claiming the mantle of “science writer” are putting it, then how come all that stuff that depends on relativity (lasers come to mind) is still working even though neutrinos have apparently travelled faster than light? For the same reason that we can still use Newtonian gravity to predict stellar objects’ behavior: all theories are limited in scope.
The discovery of faster-than-light neutrinos is, if true, wildly exciting for physicists: it opens up a physics in which Einsteinian relativity doesn’t hold true, just as Einstein discovered a physics in which Newtonian gravity didn’t hold true. Einstein is still right within the boundaries of the universe he described; CERN’s found a new universe that Einstein didn’t describe.
Why is bad reporting bad for science?
Because it encourages a simplistic and ignorant understanding of science among the general public.
The reason science works is that it can be proven wrong, if you can do the experiment, replicate the results, and have your results worked over tooth-and-claw by your equals.
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