HELIUM ATOMS SHOOT DOWN HOLLOW FIBERS in an experiment at the Australian National University (Maarten Hoogerland, maarten.hoogerland@anu.edu.au). Previously rubidium atoms had been sent down fibers (see Update 245) but alkali atoms are prone to stick along the way. The helium atoms can be detected more efficiently than the rubidium atoms, and they (like the rubidium) flow smoothly, (guided by "evanescent light" impinging upon the fibers from outside) since they have first been put into a long-lived excited state which is almost impervious to interactions with the walls of the fiber. Possible applications include atom interferometers useful for gyroscopes or gravity wave detectors (after all, the working substance of the interferometer, atoms, are sensitive to gravity), and for atom-optics handling of Bose-Einstein condensates. (Paper QTuH2, May 25, at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) in Baltimore.)