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AUSTRALIA PRODUCES WORLD-LEADING SCIENCE NEWS SERVICE
30 January 2001

Why was an Australian web site on the 'greenhouse effect' ranked by a leading search engine higher than any other site dealing with that hot topic, anywhere in the world?

With more than 470,000 results from a search on 'gene technology', why was an Australian web site consistently in the top ten?

The President of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Brian Anderson, today announced these surprising results, which were produced using the leading internet search engine Google.

'Google ranked highly many of the topics on the Academy's Nova: Science in the news web site,' said Professor Anderson. 'These results show that Nova is having not just a national, but a global impact.'

Nova: Science in the news presents background information on more than 50 newsworthy topics in biology, health, the environment, the physical sciences, mathematics and technology. The topics are clearly written, checked for accuracy and linked to other carefully-selected web sites.

Nova provides teachers, students, journalists and the public with convenient access to authoritative and balanced science information, among the glut of material available on the web.

'This high ranking by Google reinforces the recognition Nova has already received,' said Professor Anderson. 'Nova won best science website in the Australian Internet Awards and it is listed as one of the world's best science news sites by Yahoo! and the Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.

'This is a remarkable achievement for an Australian site on a small budget. I congratulate the managers, writers and editors who have made this success possible.

'The Academy is also grateful to the financial backers who have supported Nova. These include the principal sponsor, Telstra, the Australian Foundation for Science, the Science and Technology Awareness Program of the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science and Resources, and the sponsors backing many of the Nova topics.

'The Academy is committed to building Nova further as an Australian world leader in providing high quality science and technology information.'