Spitting out a 0.2 yuan (US$0.024) piece of gum in a public place might not seem like a major transgression to most people, but consider - the State is spending 1 million yuan (US$120,000) to find a better way to clean up the mess left behind by all that used chewing gum. The Ministry of Science and Technology has announced a new project listed with the National High Technology Research and Development Programme of China as "863 Programme". Over the next 18 months, the project is to invest about US$120,000 to develop a special "gum-removal" lotion, which can effectively dissolve discarded chewing gum. (ZHANG FENG, china daily news)