If you're looking for scientific or scholarly results. This has been necessary for a while, with all of the pr0n swamping some search results on regular Google.

Registration required link... So, perhaps you could reveal just the 'punchline'? (BTW, how is it that sometimes the NYTimes links on /. don't require registration?)

- Eric.

I have very mixed feelings about this.

On the one hand, yeah, I get annoyed with the pr0n stuff too. Lots of times I get results that consist of little more than referrer sites to other referrer sites et al. Sorting the wheat from the chaff is a real job.

On the other foot, I think such narrow searches give a false reassurance that the returned results are accurate and meaningful. One of the major lessons coming out of the blog world is that "peer-reviewed" and "professional" doesn't mean diddly-squat, and a PhD isn't any guarantee of intelligence, truthfulness or knowledge.

A major benefit of the Web is that any yokel with two cents to rub together and an axe to grind can post his blatherings and people will eventually find it via a search engine... as opposed to the tyranny of the uber-expensive and rather useless "scholarly journals". I'd hate to see a return to those days. I realize, of course, that isn't the point of the new Google search at all--but I do see it as opening the wedge to the whole idea of "peer-reviewed web sites". Bleah.

I've had occasional discussions with people who say "but how do you know what you find on the web is true?" I try to explain the whole crosschecking and "critical thinking" process (which is crucial for using any information source and not just the WWW)--but I see eyes glazing over far too often...