Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have found a way to create radio waves that travel faster than light (nearly 300 million meters per second or about 670 million miles per hour). This is done by a device called the Polarization Synchrotron (shown at left) that alters radio waves with a spinning magnetic field, forcing them to go faster than light. John Singleton, a fellow at the lab, likens the process to "abus[ing] radio waves so severely that they finally give in and travel faster than light." He claims that this process would explain why pulsars -dense, spinning stars- emit powerful signals. The faster light signal could catch up to the normal speed signal. As our telescopes pick up the two signals at once, it would appear as a more powerful signal.
The needle-wide waves could be used for new cell phones to connect to satellites directly, instead of having to go through towers, which could provide faster, more secure communication without dead zones. The new technology could also assist in chemotherapy. In chemo, drugs are administered and activated by radio waves that hit the entire body. With the new, thinner waves, the drugs could be used in a more localized manner to target tumors specifically.
The Department of Energy has awarded the lab a $3 million grant to develop the project.
