Finnish scientists say they have developed a new Google

Finnish scientists have invented a search engine that they claim outperforms existing ones, even Google, and allows people to explore the internet more efficiently.

SciNet, developed by researchers at the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (HIIT), is designed for complex queries such as when users are not sure of how to put their questions into simple terms such as "find the nearest restaurant."

Currently the search engine can be used to search scientific publications (hence the name) and researchers have formed company Etsimo Ltd to make the technology commercially successful.

It works by visualising keywords and showing users a topic radar so they know how closely search terms are related to one another. It also offers alternative queries that the user may not have thought of. This is how it would search for 'machine vision':

"Search needs often do not become more focused until they begin the actual search. The SciNet search engine solves these problems," says the project's coordinator Tuukka Ruotsalo. "It’s easier for people to recognise what information they want from the options offered by the SciNet search engine than it is to type it themselves."

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