Higgs

The brainiacs at CERN have found the Higgs Boson!!! Or rather they have found a new particle that resembles what they think the Higgs should look like.

Phil Plait has a good run-down of what this means for our understanding of the universe that is worth reading. The very short and oversimplified answer is that the Higgs is what gives the other particles their mass.

But his conclusions is worth re-posting:

Never forget this either: we humans did this. The discovery of this new particle, and the vast potential it has, was all because we’re curious. This huge machine, the LHC, was built solely because we wanted to find things out, and some people had the vision to fund it and build it. When we wish to explore, when we wish to see what’s over the next hill, wonders unfold before us.

All we have to do is want it enough.