Higgs boson hint sparks web storm

IT IS billed as the world's biggest scientific experiment and could unlock the secrets of the cosmos.

Yesterday, the largest particle physics lab played down claims of a major discovery, after a leaked memo hinting that the elusive Higgs boson - or "God particle" - may have been found ricocheted around science websites.

A spokesman for Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, said the memo was not intended for publication and the claims likely would not withstand closer scrutiny.

Among many things scientists are hoping to find, the Holy Grail would be the Higgs boson, named after former Edinburgh University physicist Peter Higgs. If proven to exist, the Higgs particle could explain why matter has mass, an enormous scientific breakthrough.

"The note is certainly genuine," spokesman James Gillies said yesterday. But he added such memos were merely the very first step in a rigorous peer-review process that tended to result in spectacular claims being knocked down by other scientists.

Thousands of researchers around the world are poring over data generated at Cern's 6 billion Large Hadron Collider, near Geneva, and many expect it to produce significant discoveries about the make-up of matter and other mysteries of the universe in the years to come.