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Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus has been detected in every Kaposi's sarcoma biopsy, yet nobody knows how the virus contributes to the tumour-cell formation that is associated with the disease. The key, it now seems, may lie with the so-called G-protein-coupled receptor. This protein is encoded by the virus, and it induces the production of a powerful factor that stimulates the formation of blood vessels to nourish the tumour cells.
The phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation has been thought to underlie superfluidity in liquid helium since 1938. Now at last direct evidence for the condensate has been found, by knocking atoms out of the surface of liquid helium using a beam of photons. The atoms all come out at the same angle — a clear sign that they started out with zero momentum parallel to the surface. This experiment is in effect a type of atom laser.
Anniversaries of note this year range from the discovery of alpha particles and inert gases to a plague of medical breakthroughs, the creation of a health service to make them available⃛ and the invention of an ice-cream freezer.