Otherwise, it can be bathed in a liquified form of the second material until all of the voids created by the laser are filled in.

ECONOMIST: Microelectronics grows up

And as the decayed material has an extremely high water content Mr Hansen said that most of the laser's energy is absorbed by the infected tissue, which is then vaporised.

BBC: 'No need for dentist's drill'

But further measurements using a laser and looking for reflections showed that much of the ice is covered with a layer of dark material tens of centimetres thick.

BBC: Mercury's water ice at north pole finally proven

Xerox claims that its printers, which can crank out 80 pages a minute, can target specific areas of a page for color printing using a material that is cheaper than what is used in standard laser printers.

FORBES: Magazine Article