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On the principle that no celestial object is unique, the discovery of another millisecond pulsar is overdue. That reported on page 417 has an unexpected interest.
The discovery that the oncogenes of retroviruses are derived from cellular genes has led to a search for differences between the viral gene and its cellular counterpart that might explain the oncogenic activity of the former. Two oncogenes, the abl and the src genes, have recently come under such scrutiny. The src gene will be the subject of a later article: here, Jean Yin Jen Wang discusses the abl gene.
