Google, a more refined search

What do you do if you want to learn how to change the oil in your car, make a Winchester tie knot, learn who Descartes was and find out what the NCAA record is for touchdowns passes in a single season?

If you have a computer nearby, you probably end up "googling" it. Amazingly enough, with only a miniscule amount of effort, you can have all of this information at your fingertips in a matter of seconds. This is a truly impressive feat of modern technology. Instead of spending hours in a library like our forebears, we are limited only by the phrasing of our search query and the speed of our Internet connection.

Yet, with all the power that Google could wield, it is not omnipotent. If you are a scientist, Google simply is not able to meet your needs. Say you wanted to search for mutations of BRCA1, a gene closely linked to breast cancer. You would receive 101,000 hits for the phrase "BRCA1 mutation." This is an impressive number and is indicative of how important research into BRCA1 is. However, the relevance of these hits is vague. There is no way of knowing by looking at the brief citations provided what exactly the link is referring to or if it is related to what you may be interested in. Furthermore, very rarely do these hits originate from reputable science journals.

So, if you are not an expert in the field and are uninitiated in using the more complicated search tools such as PubMed, what are you to do?

At this point, I would like to applaud Google and its efforts. Before the rise of Google, searching the Internet was somewhat of an art. You had to know the proper phrasing techniques with punctuations, and lets not forget the need for the "AND" and "OR" conditions. Google, thankfully, made searching for random information a much more enjoyable experience.

Now, Google has taken it one step further. Starting a couple of weeks ago, Google unveiled Google Scholar, a new search page devoted to all forms of academic research -- science, economics, psychology, etc. Slightly skeptical at first, after several uses, I was very impressed.

The great thing about Google Scholar is its ability to search only resources that are of assured quality. No longer are you inundated with high school projects or fraudulent Web sites. The resources are either published books or peer-reviewed papers.

Every academic should be happy, not necessarily for how it will help them, but how it will help the general public. The misinformation that is abundant on the Internet should be a major concern for everyone. Some individuals assume that the Internet is a failsafe source of knowledge, when in reality the Internet is simply a public forum where anyone and everyone can speak their mind. Heck, I could post that global warming is caused by low-carb diets and get tons of hits, but it doesn't mean that it's the truth. Sometimes it's downright scary what some people claim.

Google Scholar puts you in touch with the raw material and avoids the false interpretations and conjecture. So check it out. Go down to Odegaard and search for plankton and global-warming, or stem cell treatment, or bond activation using iridium. You might learn something.