According to the rumors, researchers may have experimental results compatible with the discovery of a long-sought particle called the Higgs boson, sometimes dubbed the "God particle," which is widely regarded as giving all other particles mass. Depending on the details, this could be a Nobel-level discovery, and could lead to a reexamination of much of today's physics.
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They've been going after that Higgs boson for decades. The reason it's so important is because the Standard Model (which describes with amazing accuracy how 3 of the 4 fundamental forces - excluding gravity that is - work) predicts this thing to exist, and the fact no one has been able to observe it yet keeps the door to rejecting the Standard Model far more open than it would be if they found the predicted Higgs boson actually exists.
And yes, that would easily be a Nobel Prize. By the way, one "political" reason for the recent furor is because in not too many years, the center for experimental particle physics research will shift to CERN and Europe. As of right now, it's still mostly split between the US and Europe, but since the US cancelled the supercollider, well it's Europe's ball game soon.
Sadly, that's one of the few areas in science where the US will soon no longer at least share leadership in.
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