The Higgs boson was predicted in 1967 whereas the article talks about physics in the last 40 years, which excludes that prediction. 40 years is not a particular

The Higgs boson was predicted in 1967 whereas the article talks about physics in the last 40 years, which excludes that prediction. 40 years is not a particularly cherry-picked number. If HEP hadn't produced a confirmed prediction in 30 years that still would be worth calling stagnation. Your understanding of the scientific method is flawed. I can come up with thousands of HEP predictions that would be easily falsified, causing a proliferation of null results and all of them absolutely worthless. A null result is useful when it points you in a better direction.