Big data is big news. With our increasing use of various gadgets and social media, we are producing more and more data everyday. But big data isn't new for some areas of science, such as weather prediction, says Chris Budd, Professor of applied mathematics at the University of Bath. We spoke with Budd, who is attending a a workshop run by the newly founded Alan Turing Institute. He told us about the use of big data in modelling riots, analysing photos on social media, and how it might make queues at airport immigration shorter.