It was a private conference when the team leader at the Large Hadron Collider spoke the news.

“So far, over the past year of successful runs on the LHC, we have found no evidence for the Higgs particle.”

The assembled scientists murmured in disbelief, excitement, and wonder. Not a few bets were paid off at that meeting.

“However, it’s not all bad news,” he continued. “We have found several new particles that were not predicted by any theory.” On the screen behind him a 3D image of a collision was projected. It showed dozens of particle tracks spreading out, along with a couple of particles that spiraled to a point and vanished.

“In addition to the new particles,” the man said, with a deadpan face, “we got more energy and mass out of collision than what we put in.”

Dead silence greeted that statement. Then pandemonium ensued in the crowd.

After it quieted down, he finished, “Luckily, the extra energy and mass vanished soon after it was created. Ladies, gentlemen, everything we know about physics, is…”