"Playing Tricks With The Speed of Light"

[jayfish]

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/12/a-review-of-slow-and-fast-light.ars

Most people learn in physics class that light goes one speed: faster than anything else. Because of its long, rich history, this 300 million meters per second is generally treated as an established fact. In the last few decades, though, scientists have been playing around with light's speed. But, as that history noted, researchers have started playing around with exceptions, based on the premise that "nothing in normal space can go faster than light, but if you can do funny things to space, you can go faster than light."

Cool stuff. In the recent past I caught a TV show (I forget the name) that dealt with slowing light down but I never considered speeding it up. ... relatively speaking. Ideas for practical applications elude me though.

Jay

[HopeHoops]

1. If you assume time and space are related by movement in 3D, you're limiting yourself.

The other end of the universe could be a half second back and 2 cm to the left of your right hand. Would you know it?

[RagAss]

3. and all this time I thought it was my arthritis !

[ArbustoBuster]

5. You're correct that time and space aren't related in 3D.

They're related in four dimensions, but this still means that the other side of the universe (if by that we mean as far away as we can see) is billions of light years away.

The best way to visualize the relations of the speed of light, space, and time that I know of is the light cone.

[tridim]

2. Manipulation of space-time is not "faster than the speed of light"

The light speed limit is based on the fact that particles can not have infinite mass, which happens at the speed of light. Photons have no problem because they have no mass.

Manipulating the Higgs field might be an interesting prospect since it's theorized that the Higgs is what gives matter its mass. Gooooooo LHC!

[00barcode]

4. Good stuff

All volume is comprised of mass and energy. Space is the absence of volume.