Short Science, December 23, 2012
Scientists at Europe's CERN research centre said they may be able to definitively announce in March that they have discovered the elusive Higgs boson.
"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse." Er, not quite. Get a magnifying glass and take a close look at your Christmas tree, says a scientist. In all likelihood, it is harbouring thousands of bugs. Bark lice, mites, moths and the odd spider are among the tiny creatures that live on pine trees and find themselves dragged into homes when Christmas comes around, said Bjarte Jordal at Norway's University Museum of Bergen. He adds, though: "As they cannot feed on the limited plants found in most households, the bugs will quickly dry out and die." AFP
Scientists at Europe's CERN research centre said they may be able to definitively announce in March that they have discovered the elusive Higgs boson. But they dismissed suggestions on blogs and in some science journals that they might have found a pair of the particle types instead of just one. CERN experts said in July they had found what appeared to be the particle that gives mass to matter, but stopped short of stating it was the Higgs boson, pending further research. Reuters