The idea may sound heretical to one of most deeply held tenets in physics, which states that the speed of light is the ultimate speed limit.

But the new proposal squeaks by on a loophole in that rule, which insists only that no mass or information exceeds the speed limit.

In this case, a faster-than-light current would pass through certain rapidly spinning stars. This would cause positively charged atoms in the star to move in one direction and negatively charged atoms would move in another. Each individual particle would move slower than the speed of light, but the wave of movement would pass through the star at a rate more rapid than light speed.