The speed of light isn't really that constant

Okay, now this hit me like a sack of wheat. Somewhere, a long time ago it was ingrained in me that the speed of light is 300,000 kilometres per second. Einstein's theory of relativity is based on the concept that nothing goes faster than light. Once you convince yourself of that, you're off into the world of relativistic physics and you're almost ready to program satellites that need to be sent to Jupiter and beyond. You've bought into the concept that light always travels at the speed of light and that nothing can go faster than the speed of light.

So. I just learned that there are people out there that have been halting light. Now while I concede that you are always taught that 300,000 km/sec is the speed of light in a vacuum, and that it is slightly different in different media (hence Snell's Law), it is still pretty trippy to think that in certain media it is slowed to a snails pace. (Can you imagine light going at under 40 miles per hour? You could pass it on the highway...C'mon light! Step on it or get out of the passing lane!)

The application of this concept is that if you can harness light, you can essentially label atoms for microseconds which is apparently long enough for the information to be used as a quantum microchip. If this ever falls into practice, it would be like handing a calculator to a guy trying to calculate the squareroot of 23409 on an abacus.

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Oh no, I think I'm experiencing a majorly nerdy geek bomb...