Head of 'faster-than-light' neutrino team resigns
(CBS/AP) GENEVA - The scientist who headed a European research team that last year measured particles traveling faster than light has resigned.
Italy's National Institute of Nuclear Physics says Antonio Ereditato has stepped down from the leadership of the OPERA experiment weeks after a rival team cast doubt on the accuracy of its readings.
The OPERA team's measurements on the speed of neutrinos were met with surprise by the scientific community when announced in September.The rival team used a
different experiment to trap neutrinos fired from the CERN laboratory in
Switzerland to a detector hundreds of miles away in Italy and confirmed that they were not traveling faster than light.
According to Einstein's theories, nothing can travel faster than light.
CERN said last month that researchers found a flaw in the technical setup that may explain the earlier experiment's figures. The website of the magazine Science reported that according to sources, "a bad connection between a fiber optic cable that connects to the GPS receiver used to correct the timing of the neutrinos' flight and an electronic card in a computer."
OPERA and three other teams are scheduled to conduct further tests at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, in May.