In their research paper, the two scientists say that using a mixture of archived news reports and real-time data, they were able to see links between droughts and storms in parts of Africa and cholera outbreaks.

BBC: News headlines used to predict future events

Patton also emphasized that investigators should scan search engine caches like Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people )'s, which keep archived copies of sites long after they've been deleted or revised.

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But I think that dismissing the YouTube livestream achievement as trivial is like the joke about the talking dog that was criticized for not enunciating properly: the real point is that YouTube has blown post being merely a repository for archived video and is now a prominent force in live, real-time national news coverage.

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