The elusive Higgs boson

um, me, defo ?

Erm...thrilled.

Ditto!

I was excited as I recognised the name from The Big Bang Theory on E4 - bet Sheldon and Co would be wetting themselves!!

I love it, it's fascinating.

If I understood it more I would probably be excited...

Eh??

I've walked down the CERN tunnel on a physics school trip - Was well cool ? So yep I find anything they do there interesting. I used to love physics when I was younger but can't remember *anything* about it now. Tis a shame really... So my interest is now more on a superficial level.

It's the particle that gives things "mass". It only exists theoretically, in order to unify various equations (the Standard Model).

It would probably be the most important discovery in physics for a 100 years (Einstein, anyone?).

Exactly this!!!

I'm very, very excited. Not least because it means Prof. Brian Fit will be on the news ❤️

Seriously though, it's huge. I don't understand particle physics very well; every time I try, my brain leaks. BUT I do know that this is a massive, huge, giantly important thing.

This! Haha.

My son is!

Is it the one called the "God particle" and couldn't finding it cause the end of the world? (Not serious BTW)

GEEK ALERT!

I've been following this for some time - yes it's exciting. I even read up on the significance and mechanism of the Higgs field so I could understand the hugeness of the discovery. I am a geek and I don't care.

Mind you, I got told off regularly for explaining sciencey things - like on our honeymoon for explaining how aurorae happened - no-one appreciated it or even understood it.

My OH is - mind you, anything sciency really interests him. as it's the field he works in. He'll always try to explain things to me, but I just don't get it. Give me a history book any day!

I can completely empathise with this, I get the same reaction to trying to explain the geeky things that interest me or even what I do at work especially to my OH.

This is very exciting news, we'll probably have to wait another year for them to collect enough results to confirm it though. Reminds me of a joke my Dad (also a science nut) told me earlier this year.

Bartender : "I'm sorry, we don't serve neutrinos"

.. a neutrino walks into the bar.

The OH didn't get why I was so excited about finding the fossils of millions of year old ammonites, and even more excitingly (for me) an icthyosaur vetebra on Lyme Regis beach. Or at seeing some of the bands on Jupiter through a telescope.... god I really am such a geek!

<potential OH reveal spoiler alert>

That said, it's the differences that make things interesting, and the OH is just as much of a history geek as I am a science geek, that's part of what I love about her. The almost childish look of excitement and wonder on her face as I took her around Hampton Court was the same look I get when looking at fossils, and well worth the trip to see her so enthralled!

</potential OH reveal spoiler alert>

WSS! I love that show.

I can completely empathise with this, I get the same reaction to trying to explain the geeky things that interest me or even what I do at work especially to my OH.

The OH didn't get why I was so excited about finding the fossils of millions of years old ammonites, and even more excitingly (for me) an icthyosaur vetebra on Lyme Regis beach. Or even at seeing some of the bands on Jupiter through a telescope.... god I really am such a geek!

<OH reveal spoiler alert>

That said, it's the differences that make us all interesting, and the OH is just as much of a history geek as I am a science geek. The childish look of wonder and excitement on her face as I took her around Hampton Court was the same look I get when looking at fossils and well worth the trip. That's one of the things I love about her.

</OH reveal spoiler alert>

Would this provide evidence that god didn't make the earth?

Apologies for the post as my OH there, SOMEONE who shall remain nameless didn't sign themselves out of MY computer, after using it....

Love you really jen_84 ?

? Oops....

The theory is that this is the particle that gives mass to the other particles that make up everything.

It would go a long way towards helping us understand the make up of things and potentially how the universe may have formed, but I don't know enough about it to say whether it would be absolute conclusive proof against a creator.

However, would even this extra proof be enough to convince some?

There's plenty of other evidence against a creator out there already that certain groups choose to ignore.

This. I don't see how there could be any conclusive proof against a creator. Scientists plug gaps but people always find the next gap at the next level of knowledge.

The "missing link" problem: evolutionary biologists discover a missing link (a transitional species) which could be used as (very good) evidence against the premise that all species were created in "kinds" (the current Creationist argument). However, those pesky Creationists simply respond with:

"So, you've mapped from reptile to bird, via the newly-discovered reptobird species. Ah,, but what was in between reptile and reptobird, and between reptobird and bird?".

Every link filled filled creates two either side. People will always worship a God of Gaps. And there will always be gaps.

Just to get really geeky...

I think there are far fewer gaps when you show evolution in terms of small changes at gene sequence (DNA) level, that's where it gets really convincing.

That and the fact there are inherent design faults in many animals that wouldn't have been put there by a 'perfect designer' - e.g. laryngeal nerve in a giraffe.

This, I think, is a very credible argument, one that I've used and not one I've seen rebuffed very well. Why do creatures have vestigial organs? Why are there two mechanisms for flat fish species to have eyes on the top of their head (you'd have thought that god might have worked out the best method and applied it across the board)? If god created all these species, with their faults and imperfections, he really was going at it blind

Creationists argue about the perfection of nature indicating the necessity for an intelligent designer. I'm not sure where the idea that nature is perfect came from...

ETA: the above reads like a lecture. I'm not in any way imagining that you don't know the above. It's just the way I write...

Higgs Boson particle knocks on a church door and asks to come in. Priest says 'no'. higgs Boson says 'but you can't have mass without me'.

Love a good science joke. That's going straight on facebook!