This blog post has a little more detail about the experiment and the physics behind it: <a href="https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2018/06/02/miniboone/" rel="nofollow">https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2018/06/02/miniboone/</a>
The most likely explanation is an experimental error. The following quote of the article should give you a pause:<p>> But there are potential problems for the sterile neutrino interpretation: results from other neutrino experiments, such as IceCube and Minos, show no evidence for a particle of this kind.<p>As I understand, sterile neutrino explanation not only requires you to trust MiniBooNE, but also requires you to <i>distrust</i> IceCube and Minos. I don't see reasons to do so.
Other coverage:<p>* By NBC: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17225957" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17225957</a><p>* By Quanta Magazine: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17210982" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17210982</a>