Skip to content

Surprising Science — December 14, 2011

Hints of the Higgs Particle Found

The world’s top physicists announced yesterday that while no direct evidence has been found, hints of the particle’s existence are detectible at no greater than 127 giga–electron volts.

bigthinkeditors

What’s the Latest Development?

Yesterday, scientists working at Europe’s Large Hadron Collider announced they have found hints of the elusive Higgs boson, the elementary particle which is thought to endow matter with mass. The Higgs particle itself has a mass and while previous experiments narrowed down the range of its value to between 115 and 140 giga–electron volts (GeV), the LHC now says its value can be no greater than 127 GeV. LHC scientists expect to have an answer one way or the other by the end of 2012, perhaps sooner.

What’s the Big Idea?

A mass of 125 GeV would support the extension of the Standard Model known as supersymmetry which states that every known particle has a heavier (and yet-undiscovered) partner. Finding evidence of the Higgs particle would answer the long-standing question of how matter gets its mass. It would also reveal the nature of the connection between the weak nuclear force and the electromagnetic force. These fundamental forces were initially united when the universe began but now they function separately.

Related

a computer generated image of a human brain.

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

▸

7 min

—

with

jwst Abell 2744 450 million

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Why Atheists Should Fight Anti-Muslim Bigotry

Last month, the TLC television channel premiered All-American Muslim, a reality show which follows several, from what I can see, fairly normal American families who happen to be Muslims. On […]