Science Breakthroughs in 2011: Cancer Vaccines, 3-D Printing, and More

One of the universe’s deepest mysteries is what gives matter—everything from planets to bacteria—its mass. In the 1960s physicists predicted the existence of a subatomic particle that imparts mass to matter. But the existence of the so-called Higgs boson, or particle, has never been confirmed. Earlier this week, researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research reported they caught a glimpse of it. The recent observation falls short of a formal discovery because the signal wasn’t seen enough times to verify it wasn’t just from other particles. But, importantly, two separate experiments detected the same signal, which raises confidence that they are indeed seeing it. If they are, it could answer a long-standing and fundamental question about how the universe works.