A key premise to big data is that it is theory free, reports Boing Boing. That is, gathering data and looking for patterns in it, instead of having a theory and using the data to support that theory. However, that idea, theory free, is being challenged.

According to Psychology Today, the use of big data in almost every application from Netflix to surveillance is exposing the inherent racial bias in some of the data.  

Pharmaceutical giant Novartis has2 5-year research projects using big data, reports Endpoint News. The projects will work with the Big Data Institute at the University of Oxford.