We propose a database model that allows users to annotate a database with belief statements. Our motivation comes from scientific database applications, where a community of users is working together to assemble, revise, and curate a shared data repository. As the community accumulates knowledge and the database content evolves over time, it may contain conflicting information and members can d...

went over a large portion of the ground on which Dr. Bastian had taken up his stand, and refuted many of the fallacies which had misled the public.' Pasteur was so anxious to drive Dr. Bastian to the wall for the following reason, which we give in his own words, written to Dr. Bastian in 1877: 'Do you lenow why I desire so much to fight and conquer you ? It is because you are one of the princip...

falls. As the nation’s only Innocence Project director who’s also a scientist, “he’s absolutely essential to what we do,” said Aimee Maxwell, executive director of the Georgia Innocence Project in Decatur, which Hampikian helped establish. In Tapp’s case, Hampikian has pushed for the use of a new, controversial DNA technique that he believes may yet identify the real killer and exonerate Tapp. ...

Mother Nature is able to accomplish certain tasks through the simplest of her creatures that computer science has yet to duplicate. Many researchers believe the key to realizing the full potential of computing machines lies in their ability to leverage biological techniques for solving problems. Jeff Hawkins, an electrical engineer and neuroscience researcher, and also the founder of the Palm P...

© 2001 European Molecular Biology Organization EMBO reports vol. 2 | no. 10 | 2001 877 asked. ‘Why would anyone consent to this, and how could a field trial be done without consent of the local population?’ Spielman also noted that 30 years ago when the WHO tried to release sterilised mosquitoes in the Indian countryside, the local population were so suspicious of the project that it was ultima...

As one of the most famous philosophers of the twentieth century, Heidegger has proposed significant ideas about ontology. The undercurrent of his philosophy is the question of being in the world or Dasein. He believes that human is the only creature for whom being in the world is a question and only human is capable of asking about Dasein. Heidegger thinks that authentic poets with their partic...

Modern development economics emerged with the realization that poverty changes the set of options available to individuals. Poverty thus affects behavior, even if the decision maker is “neo-classical”: unboundedly rational, forward-looking, and internally consistent. The “homo economicus” at the core of neo-classical economics (“calculating, unemotional maximizer”, (Mullainathan and Thaler, 200...