BEFORE they found the Higgs, particle physicists fretted about a nightmare scenario. The particle might behave just as predicted by their standard model, giving them no clues as to where to go next.
For a time after the discovery, the nightmare appeared to have come true. Many physicists were left crossing their fingers that something novel would turn up when the Large Hadron Collider switches on again in 2015 (see "Instant Expert: The Higgs boson").
Since then, the "boring" Higgs has proved quite interesting after all. Theorists have shown how it could solve a very weird problem in cosmology known as Boltzmann brains (see "Death by Higgs rids cosmos of space brain threat"). Others have suggested that it could reveal the nature of dark energy. The Higgs may not have quite delivered the bonanza of insights that some had hoped for, but it is still the stuff of dreams.
This article appeared in print under the headline "There's life in the old Higgs yet"
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