'The evidence is starting to mount': physicists at the LHC have found a possible 'anomaly' that could unlock 'a new understanding of how the universe works' — and 'charming penguins' may hold the key to whether the Standard Model is out of date

Anthropomorphic penguin in a coat lab, pictured in front of the LHC at CERN.

• A rare decay exposes cracks in physics that refuse easy explanation
• The Standard Model shows strain under one of its toughest tests
• Four-sigma anomaly hints something subtle may be missing in physics

Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have found something strange inside a particle decay process called an electroweak penguin decay, which could signal a major problem for modern physics.