If the rules have been in place for a long time it's exciting. In particle physics, this is also true. Thelepton flavor is one of the predictions of the Standard Model of particle physics, which describes all the fundamental particles and their interactions. Particles seemed to obey this rule for a long time after the Standard Model was invented.
The measurement of the muon's g-factor, a heavy version of the electron, was announced in 2004, and things have changed since then. The measurement was not what the model predicted. The electron and muon are part of a class of particles called leptons. Because electrons and muons are charged, they should all interact with other particles in the same way, according to the rule of leptonflavor. The unexpected g-factor measurement suggested that they were violating lepton flavor universality if they didn't.
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