The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. It always has, and it always will.
When you look at the full moon, at any time of year, you will see the same craters and shapes and patterns. The dark side has always been hidden, and always will be.
If you drop a marble and a cricket ball from a height of 50m in a vacuum they will both hit the ground at the same time.
The speed of light is the fastest you can go.
Ahhh, the staples of life and physics and things.
The things we learned at school, and things we accepted whether we understood the processes involved or not.
I have only ever had a fleeting interest in physics because, like mathematics, I could never get a strong grip on it.
To me, things happen and things result from those things.
Things called matter and energy, and how they behave when they argue with each other or start shoving each other around.
Electricity and magnetism ... sounds and sight.
All too intricate and perplexing for me whilst at school. I was more comfortable at woodwork, making a cabinet which, to the despair of the teacher, possessed not one single right angle.
Which, in hindsight it could be argued, was a form of physics ... albeit a flawed one.
And so, Albert Einstein solved everything when he came up with his great quantum theory which made sense of the universe and time and space and matter.
As well as the quantum theory he wrote a thing called the theory of relativity - which I suspect was sparked by his harbouring of theories about some of his relatives.
This bloke with the crazy hair and cartoon moustache was a genius, they say.
Although at the time he was scrawling chalked numbers and theorems on blackboards there were many who dismissed him.
But not after they sat down for a long time, with pads and pens and open minds, and thought it all out ... eventually nodding thoughtfully and agreeing that Al was on to something.
It was in 1905 he developed and declared what many now consider to be the most fundamental pillar of all physics ... the theory of relativity.
The thing I still actually remember from school.
E equals mc squared ... the mass-energy equivalence. It was the only thing which genuinely fascinated me and the other dullards in 3C who were unable to grasp the concept of physics and maths.
Because the teacher spoke about how Einstein had theorised that as you go faster and faster time goes slower and slower.
Not by a lot, but it does slow down.
Which I couldn't quite work out ... although at my present stage of life I am considering taking out a dreadful loan to buy a Ferrari 458 Italia and drive the thing as fast as I can everywhere to slow this ageing thing up.
"Why were you speeding sir?" the chap in the cap would inquire.
"To hinder the wrinkling process," I would reply.
"Silly old fart," he would conclude.
The teacher also told us how Einstein had calculated that nothing (not even a 458) could exceed the speed of light which is 186,000 miles a second (300,000km/sec) ... and that was that. The basis of physics. The foundation to everything.
Until a fortnight ago.
Scientists at the European Organisation for Nuclear research near Geneva (where that big Hadron Collider beast lies plotting the end of the world) reported that they had fired a neutrino beam from a particle accelerator to a laboratory 730km away in Italy ... and it had travelled at the speed of 186,282 miles an hour ... 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light.
They have stood by their calculations, adding that in recent years there had been "hints" that some elementary particles of matter may not fit in with Al's theorum.
They can exceed the speed of light ... and that, according to one scientist, would require a "fundamental" rethink of all the laws of physics.
Which means that everything is now upside down and inside out.
All those school lessons have been soaked in uncertainty, although no real dramas there given I didn't understand any of it anyway.
So what happens now?
Do the sharemarkets crash? Will computers cease to function? Will my eagerly anticipated 458 Ferrari drop a valve?
No, nothing will change ... despite the amount of cash being thrown at such exploratory physics and stuff.
It's like when Parliament goes into Christmas recess and there is no leadership for a few weeks ... everything just carries on normally, if not better.
Although if they're right ... does that mean time not only slows ... it will begin to turn back?
Bring it on.
Roger Moroney is an award-winning journalist for Hawke's Bay Today and observer of the slightly off-centre.
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