Sir, thank you for your recent, excellent editorial in the BDJ on 'Data is or data are?' This has been a vexed issue for me as an advisor for many an undergraduate and postgraduate student over the years. At least there seems to be clarity now...or is there?

This aside, I believe it is pertinent to mention another 'data' issue that will dictate our science, and perhaps life, in the not too distant future. That is 'BIG DATA'.

With the exploding advances in technology, especially on the many 'omics' fields (eg microbiomics, metabolomics, interactomics) derived through miniaturisation of bench research, this is leading to a data explosion with each experiment spewing out reams of data needing to be interpreted by experts in informatics sciences. The results of these studies are revolutionising medicine as we speak.

On the other end of the spectrum is the big data in social sciences led by psychometric analyses, which could be weaponised for the good or, indeed, the bad of the society à la the 'Cambridge Analytica' saga.

Clearly, big data is/are(!) bound to permeate our health, lives and lifestyles, and this is just the beginning of a new societal revolution!