By Genevieve Gannon, AAP
An experiment accused of jeopardising the future of the planet will reach its climax this week.
Scientists will on Wednesday reveal the findings of their investigation into the piece of sub-atomic matter dubbed the God particle.
There are three possible outcomes to the 30-year search for the Higgs boson, a theoretical particle that is key to the scientific understanding of all matter.
The first outcome - they will prove its existence.
The rule book for how particles have mass operates under the assumption the Higgs boson exists.
The Higgs boson theory is a missing piece of the rule book, which would have to be rewritten or scrapped if scientists discover the particle doesn't exist.
The second outcome - they will find something previously unthought of.
The third outcome - they will be able to rule out the existence of the Higgs Boson altogether.
Melbourne University physicist Geoff Taylor, who has been involved in the Geneva project since 1989, says the significance of the experiment cannot be overstated.
"The existence or not of the Higgs is an absolutely pivotal moment," Prof Taylor said.
"For us it's an incredibly important step in understanding the universe around us."
Should the Higgs boson be discovered, scientists will be able to explore other mysterious phenomena such as dark matter.
Last week, physicists started analysing the data collected from the latest batch of experiments in Geneva.
Even they don't know what they will find.
"We know we have to discover something in this energy range," Prof Taylor said.
"The simplest thing would be the Standard Model Higgs."
The experiments having been taking place below the Geneva airport and surrounding farmland.
The Large Hadron Collider, which is housed in a 27 kilometre long tunnel, has been "smashing" particles together.
Data has then been collected from the sub-atomic fragments released by the collision.
Scientists have been analysing the data in a double-blind test, to minimise the interference of what Prof Taylor calls human foibles.
"We have to find one particular event in about a million million events," Prof Taylor says.
The experiment has previously met with opposition.
There were some who believed it could cause the end of the world because the smashing of the particles would result in the generation of mini black holes.
Prof Taylor dismissed the claims.
"As soon as you say there is the possibility of creating black holes you have people saying we are going to be swallowed up by black holes," Prof Taylor said in 2008.
"It's completely misguided."
An announcement will be made in Geneva and Melbourne at 6pm (AEST) on Wednesday.
"Whatever comes out comes out, we don't know what that will be yet," Prof Taylor said.
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