Vital statistics.

Well, the lads and lassies at CERN have their work cut out with the puncture repair outfits still.
They may even require a few new patches and the rubber solution has been kicking around for some time. If you have completed the puzzle at 42 and are looking for a bit of intellectual excitement I can recommend a rethink of the way of looking at the properties of particles.

Read it here.

If you can't be arsed here is my take on it.

There a two different classes of particles that you can identify by whether they have integer spin (bosons) or half integer spins (fermions). They also have certain vital statistics which derive from the wonderful wacky world of quantum physics.

The bosons were invented by a Mr Bose who then went on to make some doubloons knocking out overpriced, well dodgy, audio gear on a stall in Ridley Rd. market on a Saturday. The key property of these bosons is that they love to party, they are all over one another. The more of them you can squeeze into a space the happier they are, supercool you might say.

Now, your fermions are a different kettle of herring altogether; very sniffy about their personal space. They were invented by a certain Enrico Fermi, who started out as an opera singer, a tenor, at La Scala, Milan. However, after a good start he had to give up the day job and fell into the physics business. His particles were very particular. They would not use or occupy the same space as any other fermion, they had to have their own. Electrons would go off into orbital at the mere wave from another. Things got so bad Enrico had to call in the Principal Pauli to knock a few heads together, all to no avail. Well, what do you expect from a man with a first name like Wolfgang who is tone deaf. The nearest they could get to a compromise was to establish an exclusion zone to give us all a bit of peace and quiet.

Very interesting; but what has that got to do with the price of fish you say?

Well these fermions give solidity to the world. So the next time you stub your toe as you go out to the bathroom in the middle of the night you can blame those toffee-nosed, very exclusive fermions. Snobs!