Electrical Pulses Break Light Speed Record

J'raxis writes "PhysicsWeb writes that 'Pulses that travel faster than light have been sent over a significant distance for the first time. Alain Haché and Louis Poirier of the University of Moncton in Canada transmitted the pulses through a 120-metre cable made from a coaxial 'photonic crystal.' Haché and Poirier emphasize that their experiment does not break any laws of physics. Although the group velocity exceeds the speed of light - an effect permitted by relativity -- each component of the pulse travels slower than light.'"

Comments

kinda cool

[batkiwi]

This stuff is always cool. Relativity is neat in that it lets you bend rules without breaking anything.

Hence you can go faster than light, but you're not really....

All too confusing, but nice to read about.

FTL Pulse = Science; Perpetual Motion = Hoax???

[Cy Guy]

How is it that Wednesday's story on a machine that purports to generate more energy than it consumes, replenishing its fuel, is posted to /. as bogus hoax poorly understood and reported by the (aparently defrauded) mainstream press, the /. story garnering over 900 comments. But this story on sending an electrical pulse is relegated to the Science section, gets under 20 posts, all of which seem to accept the claim at face value.

Note that both discoverers clearly noted that while the results seems fantastical, no fundemental rules of physics were broken (despite Michael's interpretation of the 'perpetual motion machine' inventors claims as being just that).

I accept that Applied Physics Letters is a much more repected source of science news than CNN, but why did the /. response have to be disparate? As far as I can tell the only difference is that the Perpetual Motion Machine inventor hasn't yet had a chance to publish their results, as the story was broken in the press based on a patent application before any thought of scientific publication could be pursued.