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Google starts highlighting health facts in search results

Google throws a lot of services at the wall, and unfortunately, Google Health never stuck. However, Mountain View is now taking another crack at the subject through its Knowledge Graph. To remind you, that's basically a box of info and images that appear when you search for historical events, figures or objects. For example, typing in "Leonardo Da Vinci" brings up a quick bio and images of the Renaissance man, while entering "Mona Lisa" shows a card on his best-known oeuvre. The same will now work on various diseases: for instance, "cold symptoms" brings up a card showing "nasal congestion, nasal pain and irritation and sneezing" and steers you toward the National Health Service for more info in the UK .

Google said it will also show whether a condition is crticial or contagious, what age groups it affects and even fancy, licensed illustrations for certain maladies. The search giant said it put together a medical team to curate the info, and had it doubled-checked by Google and Mayo Clinic physicians for accuracy. It added that the info is just for educational purposes, of course, and it doesn't want anybody doing diagnoses by internet -- as usual, it's best to leave that to an actual doctor.