Scientists have revealed tantalising evidence of a mysterious force that binds the universe together – the Higgs Boson.

What is a Higgs Boson?

Physicists have tried to explain how the universe works in mathematical equations. But the sums just do not add up.

According to the maths, the building blocks, or particles, that make up the universe should be whizzing around at the speed of light. In that scenario the planets, people and objects around us simply couldn't exist.

So British physicist Peter Higgs proposed that there was an invisible force field that permeates the universe, glues together the particles, giving them mass.

The Higgs particle is key in explaining the workings of the universe

This is the Higgs field and it has an associated 'boson', a go-between that governs how sub-atomic particles react to the force field. Together they are called the Higgs Boson - and they make the maths work.

So is that the 'God' particle?

The Higgs boson is popularly known as the God particle because it is invisible, its effects can be felt everywhere and it gives substance to everything in the universe. Most physicists cringe at the name, though.

So they've found it?

Not quite. But they think they've caught a glimpse.

Two parallel teams of scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland have both found "bumps" on the graph that suggest the particle is real.

But it could be a chance quirk, so the teams need to do more experiments - and they hope to confirm whether or not it exists next year.

How do they do that?

Scientists use the £6bn Large Hadron Collider, a 27km-long doughnut-shaped tunnel buried deep underground.

They fire proton beams (hadrons) at almost the speed of light in opposite directions around the tunnel until they collide.

These are conditions similar to the Big Bang theory of how the universe was created.

And in the debris of the explosion they look for evidence for the Higgs Boson.

So this is all about the Big Bang?

All the particles in the universe would have been created in the aftermath of the Big Bang. But so far scientists have only been able to get a handle on 4% of the universe.

The rest is made of dark matter and dark energy, that scientists can't see.

They know it exists, though, from its effects on other celestial bodies. If the Higgs Boson does exist it could be the gateway to understanding how the Universe works.

What if the Higgs Boson doesn't exist?

Scientists say that if experiments find evidence that it doesn't exist, that would be just as interesting.

It would mean physicists would have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new mathematical explanation of how the universe works.

It would also mean astrophysicist Stephen Hawking wins his $100 bet that the Higgs Boson only exists in the heads of some scientists.