A short nap and then ... Eureka!

Msnbc.com science editor Alan Boyle reports — Scientists say they've discovered a type of particle that's never been seen before — a particle that mostly matches the description of the fabled Higgs boson.

Hundreds thronged to an auditorium at the CERN particle-physics center near Geneva to hear the latest from the Large Hadron Collide, and thousands more watched the proceedings on computers and big screens around the world. Read the full story.

Why is the Higgs boson such a big deal?