Scientists think they are getting closer to finding the Higgs boson particle, as they speed particles around the Large Hadron Collider at near light-speed. Here, the lines represent possible paths of particles produced by collisions in the detector, as part of the ALICE experiment.

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A few anomalous blips of data are giving scientists hope that the elusive Higgs boson, or "God" particle, might soon be found, though it's too early to say whether a discovery is imminent.

Researchers presented their findings at the International Europhysics Conference on High-Energy Physics in Grenoble, France. According to The Guardian newspaper, two independent teams at the European Organization for Nuclear Research's (CERN) Large Hadron Collider (LHC) reported strange data spikes that could hint at the existence of the Higgs boson particle. The LHC, a 17-mile (27-kilometer) long underground circular tunnel near Geneva, was built in large part to hunt out the Higgs boson particle. According to the Standard Model, the theory of physics that explains the dynamics of subatomic particles, the Higgs boson is the particle thought to give mass to all particles. By smashing particles into each other at close to the speed of light in the LHC, scientists can break those particles down into more mysterious particles that are impossible to observe any other way.

One of these particles, the Higgs boson, would be a big "get" for physics, because particles with mass are an integral component of the physical world. The particle's ability to explain so much about the universe earned it the moniker the "God particle."

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