WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Using a versatile algorithm, Carnegie Mellon University researchers compiled a list of the best100 blogs for readers to find the biggest news on the Web as early as possible, the American Association for the Advancement of Science reported on Monday.

Their Top 100 list includes well-known blogs, such as Instapundit and Boing Boing, but also some more obscure ones like Watcher of Weasels and Don Surber.

"The goal of our system when looking at blogs is to detect the big stories as early on and as close to the source as possible," said Carlos Guestrin, assistant professor of computer science and machine learning.

Guestrin and two of his doctoral students, respectively, analyzed 45,000 blogs, which actively link to other blogs, to compile the list, checking the time stamps to determine where news items were being posted first.

Similarly, Guestrin and his students used the same system, the Cascades algorithm, to determine the optimal number and placement of sensors for detecting the introduction and spread of contaminants in a municipal water supply.

"Nothing demonstrates the versatility of Carlos' algorithm better than its ability to solve these two difficult and seemingly different problems," said Randal Bryant, dean of Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science. "It's a testament to the power of computational thinking. Computer scientists increasingly are developing common methods for solving problems that apply across any number of disciplines."

Work by Guestrin and his group is now focusing on detecting pollution in lakes and rivers and ensuring performance quality on citywide Wi-Fi networks.