Near Geneva, Switzerland scientists from the European Center for Nuclear Research are scheduled to present preliminary evidence in their search to find the Higgs boson particle, commonly known as the "God particle." Proving its existence would validate the leading theory of particle physics.

Every Friday, The Takeaway looks at the weekend's new releases. Opening this weekend: slacker comedy "The Sitter" with Jonah Hill; and "New Year's Eve" starring Sarah Jessica Parker among many others. Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and Takeaway producer Kristen Meinzer, co-hosts of The Takeaway Movie Date podcast, give their recommendations on this weekend's new movies.

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On Saturday, NASA will be launching the new rover "Curiosity," also known as Mars Science Laboratory. The mission is meant to examine chemical ingredients to see if the planet can support human life. The spacecraft will explore a crater the size of a large lake. Curiosity is delivering a rover equipped to test if there is methane in the air. This could be a key sign that the "Red Planet" may be able to support life.

Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year. As always, many stores are opening their doors earlier and extending sales for longer periods of time. Plus there's a rise in consumer confidence this month. So this year, the shopping period looks promising for retailers. It's estimated that 152 million people plan to shop this weekend, according to the National Retail Federation. That's up 10 percent from last year. But despite the good news, the economy is still weak.

In 1991, Anita Hill went from being an obscure law school professor to the subject of a national controversy. As Clarence Thomas was nominated to be a justice on the Supreme Court, Hill came forward with accusations that Thomas sexually harassed her when she worked with him at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Hill's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee vaulted sexual harassment into the national dialogue, forever changing the way Americans talk about the topic.

The Takeaway is continuing an ongoing conversation about income inequality in America. This week, the Congressional Budget Office released a new report concluding that income distribution has become vastly uneven over the last three decades. The report found that household incomes for the nation’s richest have nearly tripled in the past 30 years, while the incomes of other Americans have grown by just a fraction.