Scientists close in on ‘God particle’

IT has been called “the brick that built the universe” and “the God particle.”

It is thought to have emerged from the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago and have brought much of the rest of the flying debris together to form galaxies, stars and planets.

It is a key component of the “Standard Model” — the all-encompassing theory developed by physicists of how the cosmos as we know it works at its basic level of particles and forces.