BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy What's a Higgs Boson? Explained with zombies.

The big science story this month was the CERN announcement about finding the Higgs boson. This particle is evidence for the Higgs field which fills space. As other particles interact with it, they acquire mass. If subatomic particles didn't have any mass they would zip around at light speed and there wouldn't be any atoms. No universe, no us.

OK, so what about the zombies? I looked around for a good explanation of the Higgs and found the following infographic: Higgs boson: A Bluffer's Guide [Click on it to enlarge it.] I liked science writer Ben Gilliland's graphics and the Higgs field with zombies. But I should tell you that zombies aren�t part of the standard model of the Universe!

Yes, poor Miss Top Quark, but we all know it's no picnic gaining mass. (Though come to think of it picnics can contribute to that.)

But not everyone has found the Higgs field with zombies. Fake Science ("for when facts are too confusing") has a different take on it. Do YOU understand the Higgs Boson? It's quite funny.