How to Prove Einstein's Relativity in the Palm of Your Hand

Super fascinating article, but it leaves me with two huge questions:

> The fast-moving charged particles also emit light due to Cherenkov radiation as they move faster than the speed of light in Earth's atmosphere

Is this saying "not faster than the speed of light in a vacuum, but faster than light travels through Earth's atmosphere"? Just checking that I understand that correctly. If not, I'm interested in knowing what it is actually saying.

On another subject, later in the article it says: "even as primitive an instrument as the human eye"

Is the human eye that primitive when, try as we might, our camera sensors are still hundreds of times lacking in resolution by comparison or require great effort to resolve details we take for granted? Our advanced equipment hasn't caught up if what I learned is still accepted as current and correct.

If so, what is the article measuring our primitive eyes against?

Fascinating stuff.