Have Scientists Found the ‘God particle’?

Scientists believe they are one step closer to finding the elusive Higgs boson or ‘God particle’—a tiny but fundamental element in the construction of life :

Two separate teams, working with different detectors at the collider, reported ‘bumps’ in their data – usually an indicator of a new discovery.

Experts were quick to point out, however, that the bumps could also be caused by computer glitches and flaws in data models.

Fabiola Gianotti, spokeswoman for a 3,000-strong team using detection equipment called Atlas, said: ‘We cannot say anything today, but clearly it’s intriguing.’

Is this is a potentially significant discovery? I have no idea. I leave that sciencey stuff to our in-house physicist Stephen Barr. I only posted this item to have an excuse to share my new favorite physics joke:

A Higgs boson walks into a Catholic church and is stopped by the the priest. “Higgs bosons aren’t allowed in here,” he says, “You call yourself the God particle. That’s blasphemous!”

The Higgs boson looks surprised, “If you don’t allow Higgs boson particles, how do you have Mass?”