Top 5 Implications of Finding the Higgs Boson

Take your pick of source!

http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... hints-cern
Tantalizing Hints of Elusive Higgs Particle Announced [Update]
The long-sought Higgs boson is tied to the leading theory of how quarks, electrons and other particles get their mass
By Davide Castelvecchi | December 13, 2011

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmi ... ariance%29
Science! It Marches On
by Sean

The news from Geneva this morning is in. Essentials: what we’re seeing is pretty consistent with the existence of a Higgs boson around 123-126 GeV. The data aren’t nearly conclusive enough to say that it’s definitely there. But the LHC is purring along, and a year from now we’ll know a lot more.

It’s like rushing to the tree on Christmas morning, ripping open a giant box, and finding a small note that says “Santa is on his way! Hang in there!”

Let’s put it this way: if we were testing a theory that everyone thought was wrong, rather than one that everyone thinks is right, nobody would take these results as strong indications that the idea was correct. We have a strong theoretical bias that the Higgs exists and is somewhere close to this mass range, so it’s completely reasonable to think that we are seeing hints (tantalizing ones!) that it’s there, but wait-and-see is still the right attitude.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2 ... -wait-2012
A Tantalizing Glimpse That May Be the Higgs Boson — But Wait For 2012
By Rebecca Boyle Posted 12.13.2011

The Atlas results suggest a Higgs particle weighing 125 to 126 GeV, at a confidence level of 3.6 standard deviations, or 3.6σ. The CMS team saw potential around 124 GeV, with a confidence level of 2.6σ. In particle physics, a true discovery calls for a five-sigma confidence level, so we’re not quite there yet. A three-sigma result is good enough to say a particle may exist.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/13/world/eur ... ?hpt=hp_c2
What is the Higgs boson and why is it important?
By Nick Thompson, CNN
updated 4:55 PM EST, Tue December 13, 2011

The Standard Model of particle physics lays out the basics of how elementary particles and forces interact in the universe. But the theory crucially fails to explain how particles actually get their mass.

Particles, or bits of matter, range in size and can be larger or smaller than atoms. Electrons, protons and neutrons, for instance, are the subatomic particles that make up an atom.

Scientists believe that the Higgs boson is the particle that gives all matter its mass.

Cute bit of trivia in the article as well as to the origin of the nickname for the Higgs boson, "The God Particle" - I chuckled cuz it sounds just like a frustrated scientist. lol