The Higgs mechanism explains why the building blocks known as elementary particles have mass.

BBC: Peter Higgs: honour for physicist who proposed particle

The National Rifle Association finally spoke out this morning in response to the mass killing at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, a week ago.

FORBES: NRA Proposes to Turn Every School Into an Armed Fortress

The National Football League also announced that singer Jennifer Hudson would be performing America the Beautiful with the chorus from Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 children and six adults were killed in a mass shooting in December.

BBC: Beyonce admits inauguration miming

In these events, one elementary particle "decays", or transforms, into another with a smaller mass.

BBC: Higgs boson 'hints' also seen by US lab

Antonia Candelaria was among six students who suffocated after being buried under a mass of bricks, steel and other materials as the Plaza Towers Elementary School collapsed.

BBC: Moore tornado: Thunderstorms hamper recovery

Obama called for the task force after last month's mass shooting in Newtown in which 27 people were killed -- 20 of them elementary school children.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS