Comments on Superluminal Laser Pulse Propagation

In a recent article in Nature [1], titled Gain-assisted superluminal light propagation, experimentalists reported observing a laser pulse propagating faster than the speed of light through a gas cell which served as a amplifying medium. They state that the "peak of the pulse appears to leave the cell before entering it". This article generated a great deal of press attention around the world. For example, reports appeared in CNN and in newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, South China Morning Post, India Today, and the Guardian of London [2].