The Gatersleben Encounters, since 1995 co-hosted by the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, play an important role in facilitating and encouraging the interdisciplinary discourse between natural and social scientists, writers and artists on pressing and science-related current issues. The series of meetings focused on the effects of modern sciences on society and was brought to a first conclusion with the 10^th Meeting (“Preserving and Changing in the Context of Biological and Cultural Evolution”) in 2003. The five last colloquia were published in the Nova Acta Leopoldina N.F. series.