If you have a well-structured data model and an intuitive framework for querying your data it suddenly becomes feasible (and fun) to quickly address smaller scientific questions as they arise. If you use an expressive and intuitive query language it is also a lot easier to share your query/code with people in your group or in a scientific forum. miRMaid (www.mirmaid.org) provides such a software framework for miRNA data. If you are interested in microRNAs, or in doing something similar in your own data domain, then read on.