Boson Resolutions

As we approach a new year, many folks will make New Year's resolutions about how to make their lives and the lives of people around them better. According to Yale physicist Sarah Demers, the Higgs Boson is no different. Now out of hiding after experiments have more or less identified it, the boson has made some promises for 2013 and beyond.

My favorite is No. 1, because I kind of like the little dig at the idea that finding one particle can explain the entire universe to anyone, let alone the remedial physics masses (as in mass of people, not particles) such as myself.

But at this time of year, No. 5 might be more relevant. Although physicists believe that the Higgs Boson, which creates the Higgs field, gives mass to all subatomic particles, it has said it will not take credit for any mass people gain through overeating. Physicists will be partnering with the Food Network to locate the particle which provides such mass, which has been given the name Bonbon Boson. That name is still up in the air, though, as other physicists are lobbying for the name Chocolate-Covered Quark.