The particle accelerator in Sweden has discovered a particle that could be the Higgs Boson, but this is not definite; despite what the mainstream media are saying, but this is a step towards the discovery of more of the building blocks of the Universe. The qualities of Dark Matter are still a mystery, as well as how gravity actually works. If we could discover how the gravitational force actually worked and how to shield a craft from it, we could have real anti-gravity technology that would revolutionise space travel and delivery of cargo around the world. The particle accelerator they are using is quite powerful, but an accelerator that circled the Earth would be able to accelerate the particles to a much greater level of energy and allow the discovery of even more strange particles. Of course a particle accelerator ring that circled the Sun constructed in the Asteroid belt would provide the most power of all, you would be able to discover the most elementary particles of all with that level of energy. A little more realistic than Tony Stark building an accelerator ring in his house and making a new element by focusing a beam of energy on a piece of metal. That was BS. There are still many discoveries yet to be made before we know more about the Universe around us.
This on top of the recent announcement of the new Orion spacecraft that is proposed as a vehicle for a manned mission to the Asteroids and Mars, it is looking very good on the science front these days. Sure the mainstream media believes that this discovery is the be-all and end-all of science but as I said, there are still many more experiments to be done before we can say that we know all about the Universe and how it works. Still, this is an incredible discovery whatever the particle turns out to be. While most of America is transfixed by professional wrestling and American Idol, the scientists at CERN are discovering more and more about our Universe and the fabric of space time. The discovery of anti-gravity technology would have the greatest impact on the civilisation that we live in now. Our dependence on fossil fuels is destroying the planet and we need to find alternatives. There are biofuels that are showing promise, I have always imagined having an anti-gravity car, but if it is floating off the ground, you would need some way of pushing it along. You could have huge cargo carrying platforms that float over cities carrying cargo, this would be quieter than having trains and noisy trucks driving around all hours of the day and night. There was one idea a while ago that used helium blimps to carry shipping containers through the air, that is another good idea.
The Wikipedia article about this topic is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson, this is only tentatively confirmed and like the faster than light Neutrinos, it needs further examination before it can be confirmed scientifically. The mass of the discovered particle is 125 GeV/c2 which is close to the Higgs Boson, but obviously further testing is required. The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Electron%E2%80%93Positron_Collider. Spans a circumference of 27 kilometres, and is becoming quite famous lately. There were the stories put out by the media that worried about the creation of a black hole that would swallow the Earth. But a black hole created that way would be sub-atomic and would take years to swallow the Earth if it did not dissipate right away. The facts are outlined on this page: http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/will_the_lhc_destroy_earth/. Cosmic rays colliding with the upper atmosphere can create quantum black holes all of the time, but they decay immediately and do not pose a threat to the planet. People need to educate themselves and ignore the ignorant media beat-ups that always happen when a science story is announced. But the LHC is not going to destroy the planet, the La Palma landslide would cause more damage.