Search on Steroids

Researchers at Xerox Corporation have developed new text mining software that goes beyond conventional keyword search, enabling it, in effect, to hone in on the one or two golden nuggets among the trash in the garbage pit. I asked the developers how applicable the system might be to science searching as it is originally aimed at administrative, legal and business type environments. Apparently, the FactSpotter software will be just as well matched to searching out elements of risk in scientific documents, for instance.