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Risking The Planet Was Worth It: CERN Confirms Higgs Boson Particle Thanks To Large Hadron Collider

March 14, 2013 / atoms and stuff, CERN, discovery, electrons, higgs boson, i say we take the rest of the day off and go for a picnic, it's official, large hadron collider, lhc, mass, neato!, oh happy day, particle smasher, physics, pi day, shape, smashing things, the universe, what does it all mean?, whee!, whoa!

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Scientists at CERN have confirmed the existence of the Higgs Boson, the elusive particle believed to be responsible for giving mass and shape to all objects in the universe. The announcement comes after studying the data from last year's potentially earth-destroying tests using the Large Hadron Collider. Plus it's Pi Day, whee!

"To me it is clear that we are dealing with a Higgs boson, though we still have a long way to go to know what kind of Higgs boson it is," said Joe Incandela, a physicist who heads one of the two main teams at CERN that each involve about 3,000 scientists.


Its existence helps confirm the theory that objects gain their size and shape when particles interact in an energy field with a key particle, the Higgs boson. The more they attract, the theory goes, the bigger their mass will be.

But, it remains an "open question," CERN said in a statement, whether this is the Higgs boson that was expected in the original formulation, or possibly the lightest of several predicted in some theories that go beyond that model.

Wow, this really is an exciting time we live in. And what does this mean for the future of physics? I have no clue (or underwear on). Also, not to brag or anything, but I made a little discovery this morning myself. It was a roach in the bathtub. Maybe not as groundbreaking as CERN's discovery, but I also didn't have to build a $10-billion Collider. Who's the real scientist now?!

Thanks to everyone who sent this, you're all grade-A scientists in my book. "That's a Ninja Turtle coloring book." Aaaaaand now you're B-grade.

There are Comments
  • Chris Roberts

    Glad to know what my snot is made of at the microscopic level. Practical use for this info? I better get a friggin jetpack outta this

  • GreyGanado

    Your snot is not made out of Higgs Bosons.

  • cool so when do we get those star trek materialiser? so we can turn the world waste and bi-products into a renewable resource?????

  • Mat Pridham

    Yeah! for another, "we found something that we think is the Higgs Boson, but we're still not sure, but we'll go ahead and make the claim now, so as to secure more funding for next year, when we might actually confirm that what we're looking at is indeed the Higgs Boson, but for sure this time." claim from the science-y folks at the LHC.

  • Idlethoughts

    They had enough accuracy (5 sigma) to say they found a boson particle, they only just confirmed it to be the Higgs boson, as in the particle responsible for mass, as they suspected.

    Show some god damn respect to the people unlocking the secrets of existence.

  • Awesomesauce

  • Its existence helps confirm the theory that objects gain their size and shape when particles interact in an energy field with a key particle, the Higgs boson. ... http://www.Makeyourfuture69dol...

  • shes talkin nerdy to u ;) ;)

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