A very interesting bit of information concerning the Higgs boson gotten from the science20 blog: if it is discovered below a certain mass threshold, it would, basically (based on current leading theories) mean that the vacuum of space is unstable, and the universe decays (something called False Vaccuum Decay.) The life expectancy ogf the universe would be based on the mass of the Higgs particle. The lower the mass, the shorter the life of the universe.
Sascha Voneghr, in his blog, mentions that vaccuum decay could be triggered by cosmic collisions or even -- gasp! -- partical acceleration experiments! When will this new doomsday theory hit the net? Who knows!
Either way, if it happened, or (as might be likely) has already begun to happen, the decay would occur and spread at the speed of light, and you'd be gone before you even knew it.
http://www.science20.com/alpha_meme/...universe-85357
Damn space, you scary.