Excitement builds in hunt for key particle

[December 13, 2011]  GENEVA (AP) -- Excitement is growing ahead of the revelation of new data by scientists seeking an elusive subatomic particle that is believed to be a basic building block of the universe.

Physicists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research near Geneva -- which oversees the world's largest atom smasher -- are set to unveil the data Tuesday.

CERN scientists have told The Associated Press that the latest information from the $10-billion Large Hadron Collider under the Swiss-French border helps narrow the region of the search for the particle known as the Higgs boson.

The long-sought particle was named for British physicist Peter Higgs, who theorized its existence more than 40 years ago to explain the puzzle of how atoms -- and everything else in the universe -- have weight.

[Associated Press]

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