Allow me to shed some light on point 7 (pun fully intended). Light is both a wave and a particle at the same time, much like electricity. Different substances offer different levels of resistence for electromagnetic signals. In the case of light, this resistence is called the refractive index, and for ordinary glass, it is 1.5, meaning that light travels at c/1.5 (2/3 its normal speed) through it. By contrast, the refractive index of water is 1.336, diamond is 2.417, and air is 1.0003.

As I mentioned in my initial response, every time that the media reports that FTL travel has been achieved, they've misrepesented what actually happened, reporting an increase in the group velocity, which doesn't actually transmit any information. Now, if the phase velocity were ever increased, that would be big news. To the best of my knowledge, no such claim has ever been made.