In what is perhaps the biggest discovery in the physical sciences in years, scientists at CERN say that they likely have discovered the Higgs boson particle, considered by many a major key to furthering our understanding of the universe as reported on USENET Newsgroups.
Two teams worked separately in arriving at their results, discovering what may be a new subatomic particle. The researchers expressed optimism that the new discovery is, in fact, the Higgs boson particle that could explain how particles obtain their mass. “As a layman, I think I would say, ‘we have it,'” Rolf-Dieter Heuer of CERN said at a press conference announcing the findings, “but as a scientist I have to say, ‘what do we have?'”
Further research is needed to better understand the results and what they mean, but the research teams described their results as ‘five sigma’, which puts the chance that their results were simply an abnormality at extremely minute to say the least. The science world erupted in excitement at the announcement with many evaluating what the new discovery could mean for our understanding of the physical universe.
“This is indeed a new particle,” said Joe Incandela, a spokesman for one of the research teams. “We know it must be a boson and it’s the heaviest boson ever found. The implications are very significant and it is precisely for this reason that we must be extremely diligent in all of our studies and cross-checks.”
Sometimes called the ‘God particle’, the Higgs boson is named after Peter Higgs, one of the scientists who theorized of its existence in the 1960s. He was on hand for the announcement in Geneva.
The possible discovery of the Higgs boson has generated a renewed interest in the field as media outlets from around the world reported and discussed the new findings. ‘Higgs’ was even trending on Twitter on the day of the announcement. The new findings will surely generate plenty of discussion in Usenet newsgroups and other forums designated for the discussion of such scientific discoveries.
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