ScienceHack.com - Search Engine for Science Videos

ScienceHack is what those in the biz would call a vertical search engine, I think. They index videos from other sites (such as YouTube and MetaCafe) to cater to a particular niche -- in this case, science videos. This is to help refine searches and avoid the over-broad results you can get from the traditional search engines, or so they say. It can also be helpful to find videos in your category of interest in one place. Every video on this site is screened by a scientist (a university student or a university graduate with a major in a science related field). Suggesting that you look up terms such as hubble, space or Rubik"s cube, the site is currently limited to issues related to physics, chemistry and space. Although I must note that when I tried to enter "Einstein," the grand poobah of physics, there was no results found.

What is ScienceHack?

Assuming that the traditional search engines or YouTube search engine don"t provide good search results, I can see how vertical search engines are useful. I can also see the value in creating a central location for videos that make science interesting, if it can attract people to their site.

Are the traditional search engines no longer functional? Are people looking for niche search engine sites? If they are, this site is far behind many of the other professional vertical search engines out there.