Except when it isn't the limit:
New results from the CERN laboratory in Switzerland seem to break this cardinal rule of physics, calling into question one of the most trusted laws discovered by Albert Einstein.
Physicists have found that tiny particles called neutrinos are making a 454-mile (730-kilometer) underground trip faster than they should — more quickly, in fact, than light could do. If the results are confirmed, they could throw much of modern physics into upheaval.
How can this be?
"According to relativity, it takes an infinite amount of energy to make anything go faster than light," Plunkett told LiveScience. "If these things are going faster than light, then these rules would have to be rewritten."
Not that there isn't a loophole that we already knew about:
Previous studies have found that certain materials can travel faster than light through a medium. For example, certain particles are able to move more swiftly than light when travelling through water or oil. However, nothing should be able to move faster than light through a vacuum.
Which is why I don't assume we are stuck on Earth in our solar system. I assume that one day we will find a way to exploit a loophole to go faster than light. I trust human ingenuity.
Perhaps this result will not be confirmed because there is some flaw in the study that other scientists will discover. But thank goodness there isn't an International Panel on Speed-of-Light Change.
Actual science is never really settled.
