higgs boson

[tectak]

What it does most of all is confirms the validity of the Standard Model -- which puts us one massive step closer to a grand unifying theory (though I kind of hope we never figure it all out, that would spoil a lot of fun -- besides, dark matter and gravity don't want to play nice).

If we can figure out exactly how mass is conferred on particles to slow them from light speed, we can theoretically figure out how to do the reverse, but I suspect the transport industry is safe from an invasion of boson-driven close-to-light-speed vehicles for at least long enough to fully exploit fossil fuels.

Full credit to Messrs Higgs (UK), Kibble (UK), Brout (Belgium), Englert (Belgium), Guralnik (US) and Hagen (US) -- plus massive props to Satyendra Nath Bose, whose contribution deserves a capital B for Boson, and his partner-in-crime, some bloke called Albert.

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PS. Tectak, Readers Digest is nothing but disappointment... sea monkeys aren't real monkeys either.

Oh NOOOOO! Another myth shattered!
Best,
tectak