Data cells are described containing an entity identifier ("O"), an entity type ("E") an attribute type ("A"), and an attribute value ("V"). Cells with identical O and E values constitute a cell set. Pairs of synapse cells relate cell sets, each synapse cell having O and E values of one cell set and A and V values equal to the E and O values of the other cell set. Cell generations store information about attributes, entities, relationships, constraints, and default data formats in the same cell listing as the cells containing the actual real-world data. As a result, the data in a data cell can be considered self-identifying. The present invention also provides a way to normalize data using data pool cell sets. The data cells themselves can be stored in multiple, co-existing storage trees that are specialized for increased data query efficiency.