Was Einstein wrong about the light speed barrier?

ABC News is among the many news outlets reporting today that scientists at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) have achieved unexpected results from an experiment measuring the oscillation of neutrinos. The OPERA experiment, as it is called, involved aiming a neutrino beam from the Geneva laboratory at the LNGS underground laboratory at Gran Sasso, 730 km (just under 454 miles) away in central Italy. According to the CERN press release, the experiment "appears to indicate that the neutrinos travel at a velocity 20 parts per million above the speed of light, nature's [heretofore understood] cosmic speed limit."

But don't buy stock in a warp engine start-up company just yet. The CERN scientists sound almost apologetic about the anomalous results -- as if they're anxious, even desperate, to find another explanation that fits the data:

“When an experiment finds an apparently unbelievable result and can find no artefact of the measurement to account for it, it’s normal procedure to invite broader scrutiny, and this is exactly what the OPERA collaboration is doing, it’s good scientific practice,” said CERN Research Director Sergio Bertolucci. “If this measurement is confirmed, it might change our view of physics, but we need to be sure that there are no other, more mundane, explanations. That will require independent measurements.”

Randall Mulroe's webcomic, xkcd, tries to tamp down any irrational exuberance these experimental results might trigger in an unsophisticated public:

(Click to enlarge. See original for embedded comment.)

But, still, it would be pretty darn interesting if these experimental results hold up, wouldn't it?