Information from over 2.5 million web pages of over 200 different Australian research organisations is at everyone's fingertips, thanks to CSIRO's Research Finder.

The Research Finder website (http://rf.panopticsearch.com) uses a specialised Internet search tool that allows users to access information specific to Australia's research activities - whether it be climate change, new drug approvals, whale migration patterns or the effects of GST on tourism.

"There is a treasure trove of Australian information out there," says CSIRO computer scientist David Hawking. "From rocket science to art, you can find it easily and quickly with Research Finder."

Research Finder hugely benefits students and the general public and is a useful resource for the research community, investors and industry, both in Australia and overseas.

"Until now, to find this kind of information on the web, you needed to know which organisation was doing the research, or else take your chances with a very general Internet search engine," says Dr Hawking.

"By allowing you to search all Australia's research organisations in one go, Research Finder provides a more comprehensive list of relevant web sites than other available search engines and you can categorise your searches by field, type of organisation and location," he says.

Research Finder is powered by CSIRO's search engine, Panoptic (www.panopticsearch.com). The metadata used for searching are generated centrally with websites and pages classified by research field, location and organisation type.

The research organisations covered by Research Finder include CSIRO, Cooperative Research Centres, universities, institutes of medical research, R&D corporations, technology transfer organisations and relevant Commonwealth Government departments and agencies.

Some of the great stories Research Finder can locate include:

[Note - external links open in a new browser window]

• http://www.dar.csiro.au/information/greenhouse.html can tell you about observed changes in Australia's climate.
• http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/change/refernce.shtml you can find out about Australia's Reference Climate Station Network for long-term climate monitoring.

• http://www.atnf.csiro.au/asa_www/info_sheets/eclipse2002.html can tell you what you can expect to see during the event.

• http://genetech.csiro.au/research/index.htm you can find out about current Australian research in this field.
• http://www.marine.csiro.au/LeafletsFolder/pdfsheets/Daughterless_carp_13may02.pdf can tell you about daughterless carp.
• http://www.genecrc.org/site/ge/ge1.htm can inform you about the ethical issues.

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