Described is a technology, such as for representing scientific data and information, in which a database table contains rows of type data representing types, and term data representing terms that inhabit the types. Types include composite types (e.g., that represent entities), and instances of relation types that express relationships between types, between a type and a term, or between terms. Types and/or terms may have multiple relationships with one another, and a relationship may span database tables. A new relationship may be established by adding a new row to the database table to represent a new relation term, along with one or more similar rows to represent the relation role terms associated with that relation term; relationships may be removed by removing rows. As a result, the database table may change its state rapidly, without needing to change the database schema.