If Turin wanted to work on this using his algorithm, he'd start with one of patchouli's components--say, a molecule that smells earthy or woody--and try varying its structure in small ways.

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Adam Cahan, a Yahoo senior vice president, said in an interview on Monday that Mr. D'Aloisio was an "exceptional" talent and that Yahoo did "extensive" testing of Summly's algorithm, or mathematical formula, for condensing news articles.

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