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OT: Higgs boson found!

Correction: A new elementary particle found. Possibly a/the Higgs boson.
 
I like they picked 7/4 for announcement.

Sadly many will miss today's news due to skipping their daily internet routine.

12/21/12 is right around the corner 🙂
 
awesome news...i read about this yesterday or the day before. while they haven't directly detected the Higgs boson (only indirectly, through the photons, W bosons, and Z bosons that are supposedly a product of its decay), and while it can only be said that it is a Higgs-like particle at this point, it is very promising for the particle physics community, as it opens the door for further testing and confirmation that it is in fact the Higgs. as much as some scientists are worried that they've discovered the last missing piece of the Standard Model, i have a gut feeling that the particle colliders of the world still have much to discover...
 
I seen this while reading the news this morning, and realized that I needed to do more research into it. Really cool stuff.
 
i've been into astronomy and physics for as long as i can remember, but it wasn't until recently that those topics turned me onto the broader part of particle physics...and even that happened somewhat by chance. before that, the only particle physics i knew much about was the atom, its constituents the proton, the neutron, and the electron, and their constituents, quarks. then my brother got me a book called The Cosmic Onion: Quarks and the Nature of the Universe by Frank E. Close, and that book opened my eyes to a whole new world that was the Standard Model of particle physics. i could hardly believe that there existed so many other subatomic particles, even if many of their existences are fleeting (like certain force carrying particles for example). at any rate, it was a fascinating read and does an excellent job of conveying to the layman a basic understanding of the Standard Model. it also covers some of the science and history behind the theories and discoveries of these particles along the way.
 
Why does every news article declare that Higgs has been found? During the CERN press conference they repeatedly told that more data is needed. The new particle's mass is in the expected range but there might be more Higgs bosons if for example the supersymmetry model is accurate.
 
mk said:
Why does every news article declare that Higgs has been found? During the CERN press conference they repeatedly told that more data is needed. The new particle's mass is in the expected range but there might be more Higgs bosons if for example the supersymmetry model is accurate.
Click to expand...

Probably because the data are as solid as they can be at this time point - within the 5-sigma-limits. For most layman journalists that is sufficient.

And because it is fun to spread science news before proof is in.

Also: being a scientists myself, I know how hard it is to say "This is so ...". When publishing a finding you always want to cover your back against the 1 in 10^10 chance that you are wrong.
Consider the expression "Evolution theory": Evolution is not any theory anymore. Evolution has been observed (in bacteria, algae, insects, mice, etc). Evolution is proven as one of the main mechanisms of biological developmen and still it is said: "Evolution theory".
 
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It's not the last particle. It's only the gauge boson that gives mass and inertia. What about the boson that mediates gravity?

Once we discover a "graviton" and then ultimately learn how to artificially produce Higgs/graviton interactions the same way we artificially create X rays and other photons...

Yeah... then we might get off this rock.

Push against the Higgs field instead a road, an atmosphere, or propellant.
 
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