No 'God Particle' Yet

Physicists have a grand theory that describes how tiny particles interact to form all the stuff we see in the universe — everything from planets to toasters to human beings.

But there is one particle predicted by this theory that has never been detected in experiments. It's called the Higgs boson. The Higgs boson is a famous subatomic particle first theorized to exist back in the mid-1960s. It's a key part of some beautiful mathematics that would explain a fundamental mystery: why things have mass. Scientists are dying to know if it really exists — and now researchers are closer to finding out than ever before.

If the Higgs is not found in the next year or so, he says, scientists may have to totally rethink their ideas about the inner workings of the universe.

To learn more listen to the story below from NPR.