Mass hysteria

Considerable research is being undertaken to identify the Higgs particle that is believed to give things their mass. According to the standard model, what we call mass is really an indication of how strongly particles interact with an invisible syrupy substance called the Higgs field. Quantum mechanics say that the mass-giving field can also be thought of as a sea of electrically neutral Higgs particles that should be dislodged in collisions between subatomic particles with high enough energies. Particle physicists expect the Higgs to exist only for a fleeting moment before decaying into other particles, which are caught in a detector. (Edited abstract).