In the article that accompanies this editorial, Etienne Audureau and co-authors highlight the importance of GA variables in predicting prognosis in two large observational French cohorts of older adults with cancer. Beyond the specific problem (predicting prognosis in older adults with cancer) and results, they provide a second type of useful model: an illustration of how data science, machine learning, and many-model thinking can augment clinical research amidst a shifting data paradigm.