proper manky

However oversimplified, this is the best explanation I’ve read so far … I liked this analogy:

The key is that Higgs particles are rare but their debris is relatively regular in appearance, while the other processes are common but more random; and just as your ear can gradually pick out the singing tone of a human voice even above heavy static on a radio, so experimenters can pick out the regular ringing of the Higgs field amid the random cacophony created by the other similar-looking processes.

This refers to the LHC search for the Higgs in the debris of proton-proton collisions. However, the Higgs is too short-lived to be seen directly. Instead, its presence is inferred from the particles it decays into, but these particles are also produced by other so-called background processes that occur when protons collide. So, gathering data is the name of the game.

Given the importance of mass not only in determining the size of atoms but in a whole host of other properties of nature, our understanding of our universe and ourselves cannot be complete and satisfactory while the Higgs field remains so mysterious. Studying the Higgs particle — the waves in the Higgs field — will give us our first profound insights into the nature of this field, just as one can learn about air from studying sound waves, about rock by studying earthquakes, and about the sea by studying waves upon the beach.

For contrast, the NYT first tried this labored analogy:

According to the Standard Model, the Higgs boson is the only manifestation of an invisible force field, a cosmic molasses that permeates space and imbues elementary particles with mass. Particles wading through the field gain heft the way a bill going through Congress attracts riders and amendments, becoming ever more ponderous.

And then followed up with this non sequitur:

Without the Higgs field, as it is known, or something like it, all elementary forms of matter would zoom around at the speed of light, flowing through our hands like moonlight. There would be neither atoms nor life.

Although indubitably in jest, the Guardian even finds a way to top that:

If the constituent parts of matter were sticky-faced toddlers, then the Higgs field would be like one of those ball pits they have in the children’s play area at IKEA. Each coloured plastic ball represents a Higgs boson: collectively they provide the essential drag that stops your toddler/electron falling to the bottom of the universe, where all the snakes and hypodermic needles are.