At heart is the mystery of the universe

"The Higgs particle arises from a field pervading space, known as the Higgs field," explains Caltech physicist Sean Carroll in "The Particle at the End of the Universe: How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us to the Edge of a New World." "Everything in the known universe, as it travels through space, moves through the Higgs field; it's always there lurking invisibly in the background." As to why this matters, Carroll points out that "without the Higgs, electrons and quarks would be massless, just like photons, the particles of light. They would move at the speed of light themselves, and it would be impossible to form atoms and molecules much less life as we know it.... Without it, the world would be an utterly different place."

more from David L. Ulin at the LA Times here.