What can the higgs boson do?

Answer 1

If it is found it is expected to explain the various masses of the known particles, if it is not found it might be too massive for the LHC to make. If it is proven not to exist we may have to wait for the Supersymmetry theory to explain particle masses.

Answer 2

The higgs boson is an excitement of the higgs field, and the only part of it which can be experimentally observed, which gives other particles mass. Without it, all particles would be doomed to travel at the speed of light forever.

The higgs boson can also be produced through some weak interactions. The reason it's loved so much is less because it is amazing independently, it just weakly interacts a bit every now and then, but because it would allow us to prove the existence of the higgs field which is useful because a proven theory of where mass comes from is important in developing a theory of everything, especially since gravity is dependant partly on mass.

There was also the hope that no higgs boson would be found, paving the way for a new theory of mass generation to be developed, which could be an interesting and helpful development in modern physics. But it seems now that there is a higgs field, as there has been, as you probably heard, strong evidence suggesting the presence of the higgs boson uncovered recently at cern.