terrain. Such a lightweight would need at least one new type of particle to stabilise it. "It's very exciting," says CMS spokesman Guido Tonelli. "This could be the first ring in a chain of discoveries." Grossman continues: The Atlas data restricts the Higgs to within 115 and 131GeV; CMS rules out a Higgs heavier than 127GeV. Most excitingly, Atlas saw a tantalising hint of the Higgs at 126GeV; CMS saw one at 124GeV. It is the first time both experiments have seen a signal at nearly the same mass. "We're very competitive, but once I see they're coming with results, I'm happy," Tonelli says. "Their results are important for us. They're obtained in a completely independent manner." That mass also paves the way for physics beyond the Standard Model. Thanks to subtle quantum mechanical effects, a lightweight Higgs needs a heavier companion particle "acting as a sort of bodyguard", Tonelli says. Otherwise, the quantum vacuum from which particles appear would be unstable, and the universe would long ago have disintegrated. If the Higgs is lightweight, the fact that we are here today suggests there is at least one extra particle beyond the Standard Model. 3.25pm: While we wait for the press conference to start, here's some more analysis. This article on "Higgs mania" from the excellent In The Dark blog starts with the writer being woken at 7am with hints on the radio that the Higgs would be announced later today: Evidence soon emerged however that this particular squib might