In this, the very first episode of the new OKC.net science podcast, “Orders of Magnitude,” hosts Patricia Waldron and Mandy Qualls recount the most important science stories of 2011, which includes malaria, neutrinos, and the Walking Dead.
Episode 1: Listen Now!
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I must complement you ladies on your performance! I thoroughly enjoyed your first podcast, and I look forward to more. However, I did want to give some input to your report of the faster-than-light neutrinos. I attended a lecture by the physicist Victor Stenger in October, just as this news broke. He had been slated to give another lecture, but wrote a new one to discuss this news. According to him, “despite what has been reported in the media, superluminal motion in no way contradicts Einstein’s theory of special relativity published in 1905. Einstein’s equations fully allow for particles to travel faster than light — provided they never travel slower. Physicists have speculated about such objects for years. They are called tachyons. Many searches have been conducted, with no significant signals until now.”
This specific quote is from a piece he published in HuffPost (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/victor-stenger/no-cause-to-dispute-einst_b_982429.html), but it is more or less what he said in his lecture. He had some neat graphs too! Physics is definitely not my area of expertise, but from what I have read from reputable science news sources, this seems to be the consensus. “Einstein Was Wrong” just makes a better headline in mainstream news 😛
Sorry to nitpick, but I thought you would appreciate this aspect to the story. I was also under the impression that faster-than-light speed was impossible before I heard Stenger. But anyway, I wanted to say again how much I enjoyed the podcast. Keep up the good work!
Tiffany: You are exactly right in that the evidence is extremely compelling, and Victor Stenger also brings up very good points. In the podcast I should have expressed my appreciation for the fact that the scientists who made this discovery have put all their data online for other scientists to peruse, and have made a wonderful example for non-scientists in how the scientific method is supposed to work!
As far as these findings, I was never a fan of the “Einstein Was Wrong” headlines, but you’re right in that it makes a better headline. In my experience, scientists almost always object to headlines because they are misleading, but alas, it always happens.
I guess I’m taking more of a “wait and see” approach to this story. I find it extremely compelling, and I definitely appreciate the link to the story! Thanks for listening to the podcast!
Hey Patricia and Mandy. I really enjoyed listening to your podcast. Is there an RSS feed so that I can add it to my podcast client?
There is! http://feeds.feedburner.com/ordermagnitude. I hope that helps.
That’s great, thanks!