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Everyday science

Everyday science

Higgs boson spotted

20 Jul 2009 Michael Banks
higgs sm.jpg
Catching up on the latest physics

By Michael Banks

Sorry, not at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider near Geneva or Fermilab’s Tevatron in Batavia, Illinois, but at our office here in Bristol.

This morning, Physics World’s postbag contained our very own Higgs boson plush toy sent from Julie Peasley at Particle Zoo.

Particle Zoo, based in Los Angeles, makes plush toys of all your favourite particles including the neutron, electron as well as particles that have not yet been discovered such as the graviton.

Recently, Particle Zoo even branched out from just making particles to produce a plush toy of the cosmic microwave background and higher-dimensional “branes”.

Physics World can confirm that the mass of the Higgs is surprisingly large and that it is currently taking pride of place in the office next to the latest issue of the magazine.

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