"The Higgs boson is the final piece of the Standard Model of particle physics, an amazing theoretical edifice that has stood the test of time for more than three decades now. The Standard Model features two kinds of particles. There are "fermions," the particles of matter, which take up space (you can't pile them on top of each other). Then there are "bosons," the force particles, which can pile up. The four forces include gravity, electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force, and the weak nuclear force. That last one-- the weak force--is the most messy and complicated of the forces. And the Higgs boson (or really the Higgs field from which it arises) is the reason why." - Amit Patel from Bookmarklet