And that is the direction in which Dr Chen and Dr Ren hope they are heading.

ECONOMIST: Solar power

AU, which agrees pretty well with the value arrived at by Dr Chen and Dr Jura.

ECONOMIST: Planetary formation

But it is enough, Dr Chen reckons, for the process to be worth considering for mass production.

ECONOMIST: Solar power

"We've achieved about 90% accuracy, " says Dr Chen-Long Chuang, one of the scientists who developed the sensing and forecast technologies.

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Dr Chen's calculations showed, however, that it should be possible to reduce titanium dioxide electrically without having to dissolve it.

ECONOMIST: Dr Chen and the philosopher��s stone

But Dr Chen's observation suggested this electrolysis could happen because the dioxide becomes a conductor once a tiny amount of oxygen is removed from it.

ECONOMIST: Dr Chen and the philosopher��s stone

Dr Chen said that one of his team was currently conducting airborne surveys of one of the regions where mass loss had been detected, hoping to shed some light on the mechanisms involved.

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Nearly 8, 000 people die from oral cancer each year, which Dr. Chu Chen would like to change.

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