what gives everything in universe a mass??

The hypothetical particle is the Higgs boson. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN may demonstrate its existence. The experiment is not a spoof. There are many popular science books on cosmology that provide a better understanding of the concepts.

many say the Higg's boson which hasn't been proven yet. A slim chance that it will as well, because it may very well just add to the 'fray' of discovered particles....meaning that it may not be the so thought 'beginning' of creation. We will see though.

Energy to matter. Energy can actually go way beyond the Higg's boson... in that it's more than just a particle, it is pure scalar. Whereas the Higg's boson is particle with scalar potential.

This should answer your question:

quote from wikipedia:

""""""The Higgs boson particle is one quantum component of the theoretical Higgs field. In empty space, the Higgs field has an amplitude different from zero, i.e., a non-zero vacuum expectation value. The existence of this non-zero vacuum expectation plays a fundamental role: it gives mass to every elementary particle which should have mass, including the Higgs boson itself."""""

-----A non-zero vacuum expectation gives mass to all particles, INCLUDING the Higg's boson. That means the vacuum it's self or the zero point energy field is what gives all things mass. Not the Higg's boson.------

more:

""""""In essence, this field (vacuum) is analogous to a pool of molasses that "sticks" to the otherwise massless fundamental particles which travel through the field, converting them into particles with mass which form, for example, the components of atoms.""""""

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

information:

The Higgs boson is a massive scalar elementary particle predicted to exist by the Standard Model in particle physics. At present there are no known fundamental scalar particles in nature.

The Higgs boson is the only Standard Model particle that has not yet been observed. Experimental detection of the Higgs boson would help explain the origin of mass in the universe. More specifically, the Higgs boson would explain the difference between the massless photon, which mediates electromagnetism, and the massive W and Z bosons, which mediate the weak force. If the Higgs boson exists, it is an integral and pervasive component of the material world.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, which came online on September 10, 2008 is scheduled to become fully operational by late 2009, and is expected to provide experimental evidence either confirming or refuting the Higgs boson's existence. An accident in September 2008 has the LHC temporarily out of commission; ongoing experiments at Fermilab continue previous attempts at detection (although hindered by the lower energy of the Fermilab Tevatron accelerator). It has been reported that Fermilab physicists suggest the odds of Tevatron detecting the Higgs boson are between 50% and 96%, depending on its precise mass.

The LHC experiment is not a spoof - scientists are trying to figure out what gives something mass for a while now, and if they don't know, none of the general public here knows either!

The Large Hadron Collider breaks apart atoms to recreate conditions similar to the early universe, and to see whether concepts such as the Higgs Boson (which would give mass, yes) are possible.

It's all about discovery, my friend, the question "what is mass?" is similar to "how big is the universe?" or "what was there before the big bang?" - we just don't know yet.

Mass and energy are just two different aspects of the same thing (in the same way that space and time are the same thing).

The biggest difference between energy and mass (in the Relativistic model) is that mass is claimed to cause a local 'curvature' of the space-time continuum. (I, personally, wonder if it is not a curvature of the local space-time continuum which causes energy to acquire the characteristic(s) of mass, but that's just old, weird me ☺)

The mediary of this energy-mass transform is the almost mythical Higgs boson. I say 'almost' because while it is predicted to exist in the 'Standard Model', it's never been observed. But the Higgs boson is believed to be the quantum component of the Higgs Field which has a non-zero expectation value. If this non-zero expectation actually exists then it explains the spontaneous breaking of electroweak guage symmetry which yields mass for the guage bosons (including the Higgs boson).

Doug

It is probably the so-called Higgs boson, though it has yet to be observed. It is hoped the Large Hadron Collider will enable us to confirm it's existence.

*Takes a sip of Scotch* This, is a darn good question.

I think you're gonna have to do like the rest of us are doing and wait, pray, curse, wimper, plead, speculate- oh, and did I say wait?

When the LHC comes on line and does its experiments we'll have those answers- right now, its all speculation and math but it means we don't know