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Exotic particles made headlines again and again in 2012, making it no surprise that the breakthrough of the year is a big physics finding: confirmation of the existence of the Higgs boson. Hypothesized more than 40 years ago, the elusive particle completes the standard model of physics, and is arguably the key to the explanation of how other fundamental particles obtain mass. The only mystery that remains is whether its discovery marks a new dawn for particle physics or the final stretch of a field that has run its course.