  The MACHO Project monitors millions of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud,
the Small Magellanic Cloud and the bulge of the Milky Way searching for the
gravitational microlensing signature of baryonic dark matter. This Project has
yielded surprising results. An analysis of two years of data monitoring the
Large Magellanic Cloud points to {$\sim 50%$} of the mass of the Milky Way's
halo in compact objects of {$\sim 0.5 M_{\odot}$}. An analysis of one year of
monitoring the bulge has yielded more microlensing than predicted without the
invocation of a massive bar or significant disk dark matter. The huge database
of light curves created by this search is yielding information on extremely
rare types of astrophysical variability as well as providing temporal detail
for the study of well known variable astrophysical phenomena. The variable star
catalog created from this database is previewed and example light curves are
presented.
