E-democracy designates the set of institutional practices enabled by new information and communication technologies (henceforth ICTs). Such practices are supposed to help further the core values of democracy and have been suggested as a potential remedy to some of the shortcomings of current Western democracies. Specifically, so it is hypothesised, such ICT solutions could make up for the growing disaffection with political participation and the widespread discontent with contemporary political practices. The extent to which, so far, this has actually been the case, is still a matter of debate.

Personalized medicine is commonly described as moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach, towards healthcare services that are tailored to the needs and characteristics of individuals. Its focus on profiling, prevention, early detection, and tailored treatments is considered as a good way to rise to the political, social and scientific challenges characterising contemporary healthcare.

In recent years debate has spurred over the potential conflict between two emerging paradigms in biomedicine: Personalized Medicine (PM) and Person-Centered Medicine (PCM). Though both P-Med and PCM aim at tailoring therapies to the individual level, they do so by resorting to different conceptual frameworks and techniques.

Bioprospecting – the collection, screening and scientific use of plant genetic information to improve food crops and for the development of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and other consumer goods – is testimony to the ever-increasing value of biodiversity in the global economy. But in what does the challenge of a global genetic resource management consist and why should scientists and the wider public care about its social implications?

The expressions “biological replicate” and “technical replicate” are ubiquitous in biology, but they are surprisingly recent. At first glance, the adjectives suggest that one can understand these notions in terms of a distinction between biological variation and technological variations. This however becomes problematic as soon as biological systems are used as instruments.