"Mystery": New particle measurement appears to contradict our understanding of the universe, scientists say

After a decade of meticulous measurements, scientists announced Thursday that a fundamental particle -- the W boson -- has a significantly greater mass than theorized, shaking the foundations of our understanding of how the universe works.

Those foundations are grounded by the Standard Model of particle physics, which is the best theory scientists have to describe the most basic building blocks of the universe, and what forces govern them.

The W boson is an electrically charged fundamental particle that governs what is called the weak force, one of the four fundamental forces of nature, and therefore a pillar of the standard model.