In September 2011, the OPERA experiment at CERN announced that they had detected neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light. This result, if true, would have overturned one of the most fundamental laws of physics. However, soon after the announcement, several problems with the experiment were identified. The most significant problem was a faulty wire that could have caused the neutrinos to be detected earlier than they should have been.

In March 2012, the OPERA collaboration admitted that their results were incorrect and that the neutrinos had not actually traveled faster than light. The collaboration said that the faulty wire had been repaired and that they would be repeating the experiment.

The faster-than-light neutrino results were a major embarrassment for CERN and for the particle physics community. It showed that even the most carefully controlled experiments can be subject to errors. However, it is also important to remember that science is self-correcting and that errors are eventually found and corrected.