Here’s an interesting look at the standoff between Google and the Chinese government over hacking of G-mail and cyber attacks on other sites.

A news team from the journal Nature surveyed scientists in China to find out how much they rely on Google and what the consequences would be if they lost access to the search engine and its related products.

More than three-quarters of the scientists said they use Google as the primary search engine for their research, Nature reported. Over 80 percent use the search engine to find academic papers; close to 60 percent use it to get information about scientific discoveries or other scientists’ research programs; and more than half use the literature search Google Scholar.

A large proportion — 84 percent — of the scientists who responded to Nature’s survey say that losing Google would “somewhat or significantly” hamper their research and 78 percent say that international collaborations would be affected to the same degree.

Science in China would not come to a halt without Google, David Nicholas, an Internet researcher in London, told Nature. But losing Google as a research tool would significantly compromise scientists’ efficiency, he said.

One Chinese scientist said: “Research without Google would be like life without electricity.”

You can see the full survey results here.