Receiving Support When Older: What Makes It OK?

Echinacea: What Makes It Work?

Extrapolations from pharmacological research have led some authors to suggest restrictions or contraindications for the use of Echinacea. This article examines the known chemistry and pharmacology of the various Echinacea species and products, and challenges some of these popular concepts. In particular, the hypotheses that Echinacea is a T cell activator and that it will accelerate pathology i...

Jusletter IT - What Makes a Story Plausible?

When reasoning about the facts of a case, we typically use stories to link the known events into coherent wholes. One way to establish coherence is to appeal to past examples, real or fictitious. These examples can be chosen and critiqued using the case-based reasoning (CBR) techniques from the AI and Law literature. In this paper, we apply these techniques to factual stories, assessing a story...

What is It That Makes a Mathematician?

Our meeting Where will the next generation of UK mathematicians come from? will concentrate on the education policy issues arising from our desire to nurture future mathematical talent. However, a brief look at the programme of the meeting shows that no discussion of what mathematical abilities and talent are is scheduled. I hope that we have a shared understanding sufficient for a meaningful c...

Centromeric chromatin: what makes it unique?

Centromeres represent the final frontier of eukaryotic genomes. Although they are defining features of chromosomes--the points at which spindle microtubules attach--the fundamental features that distinguish them from other parts of the chromosome remain mysterious. The function of centromeres is conserved throughout eukaryotic biology, but their DNA sequences are not. Rather, accumulating evide...

What Makes an IT Project Successful?