It makes sense that if something is designed based on average measures it would be appropriate for all, or most of all. But reality is quite the opposite. For example, a seat designed based on the average size of a population will not be suitable for the tallest and the shortest persons. Indeed, by definition an average does not represent extreme values that can be significantly different. The same applies for life sciences as living organisms are made of many cell populations and biological processes are usually investigated globally. Based on a very simplified example, this paper discusses this concept for the particular case of the characterization of the nanoparticle protein corona. Firm conclusions cannot be drawn from the global analysis of samples containing a large number of nanoparticles. It results that in future, different approaches will be required to identify corona subclasses rather than averaging over them. A way to face this challenging task may be through the combined use of different analytical techniques, each shedding light on a different aspect of this complex layer to gain true insight about its nature and dynamics. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.