THE TOP PHYSICS STORIES OF 1997, according to the editors of Physics News Update, are as follows (in chronological order): Bose-Einstein condensation experiments show that two types of rubidium gases can be condensed in one atom trap and that part of a condensate can be extracted, constituting a sort of rudimentary atom laser; a black hole's event horizon is detected; electron-positron collisions at KEK (Japan) demonstrate experimentally that the electromagnetic coupling constant increases at very high q², the square of the momentum transferred; hints that leptoquarks are produced at the HERA electron-proton collider in Germany; the Hipparcos satellite re-establishes many star distances; many new properties for carbon nanotubes; first movies of single DNA replicating; force detection with atto-newton precision with combined AFM and MRI techniques; Comet Hale-Bopp; superfluid analog of a Josephson junction; 100th anniversary of the discovery of the electron; excited state of an atom has a 10- year lifetime; gamma ray bursters are extragalactic; proton pairs ejected from nuclei; the Mars Pathfinder and Mars Surveyor missions; evidence of a 4-quark meson at Brookhaven; fractionally charged quasiparticles in a quantum Hall experiment; real (not just virtual) photons create matter; most intense manmade sound produced; quantum teleportation demonstrated (350);50th anniversary of transistors.