LEP's long day closes

The Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP) at CERN in Geneva has finally
finished its work. In its last weeks, Europe’s flagship accelerator turned up
tantalising hints of the elusive Higgs boson, the particle thought to explain
the origin of mass. In September, LEP researchers were given an extra month to
confirm the results
(New Scientist, 23 September, p 5).
But last week
CERN director-general Luciano Maiani said the results were “not sufficiently
conclusive” and it was time for LEP to make way for the construction of the
Large Hadron Collider.