2000s in science and technology

This page contains major developments and trends in Science and Technology for the 2000s decade.

Decades	1980s - 1990s - 2000s - 2010s
Years:	2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009

Science

The Mars Exploration Rovers have provided huge amounts of information by functioning well beyond NASA's original estimates.

• Astrophysicists studying the universe confirm its age at 13.7 billion years, discover that it will most likely expand forever without limit, and conclude that only 4% of the universe's contents are ordinary matter (the other 96% being still-mysterious dark matter, dark energy, and dark flow).
• The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission successfully reached the surface of Mars in 2004, and sent detailed data and images of the landscape there back to Earth. Whilst NASA's original mission timeline of 3 months was incorrectly speculated, the mission was tremendously successful overall in the long term, as the MER Mission continues until this day, lasting nearly 25x the projected length.
• The Human Genome Project was completed. (1999)
• National Geographic and IBM fund The Genographic Project which traces every living human down to a single male ancestor.
• End 2002, Perelman posted the first of a series of eprints to the arXiv, in which he proved the Poincaré conjecture,
• On July 29, 2005 the discovery of Eris, a Kuiper Belt object larger than Pluto, is announced. In August 2006 Pluto is demoted to a "dwarf planet" after being considered a planet for 76 years. Other "dwarf planets" in our solar system now include Ceres and Eris.
• Space tourism/Private spaceflight begins with American Dennis Tito, paying Russia $20 million USD for a week long stay to the International Space Station.
• The Voyager I spacecraft entered the heliosheath, marking its departure from our solar system.
• Scientists discover water ice on the moon in 2009.
• AFIS and CODIS become the main forensic tools for fingerprint and genetic code investigation in the industrialized world and some developing countries.

Technology

Computing and Internet

Main article: Timeline of computing 2000–2009

This contemporary illustration shows the look personal computers took, which differed from the monitor-over-system unit look which dominated much of the late twentieth century. Personal computers also started coming out mainly in black, in contrast to the universal creamy white of much of the twentieth century.

As with the 1980s and 1990s, there continued to be smaller system units, including all-in-one computers.

• A huge jump in broadband internet usage globally - for example, comprising only 6% of U.S. internet users in June, 2000 and one mid-decade study predicting 62% adoption by 2010. Yet, by February 2007, over 80% of US Internet users were connected via broadband and broadband internet has been almost a required standard for quality internet browsing. There were 77.4 million broadband subscribers in the US in December 2008, with 264 million broadband subscribers alone in the top 30 countries at that time.
• Boom in music downloading and the use of data compression to quickly transfer music over the Internet, with a corresponding rise of portable digital audio players typified by Apple Inc.'s iPod, along with other MP3 players. Digital music sales rise, accounting for 6% of all music sales in 2005.. Digital music options has been integrated into other devices such as smartphones and the popular PSP. By late decade, generic MP3 players are starting to mimic the features of the extremely popular iPod and Zune.
• As a result of widespread popularity and social impact of Google Search, the word "google" becomes defined as a verb.
• Flash technology reaches the point of being able to make video players. As a result, YouTube, a website which allows uploading and viewing videos, is created. YouTube's popularity grows explosively and it is acquired by Google.
• Due to an increase in capacity, USB flash drives rapidly replace zip disks and 3.5-inch diskettes.
• Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 become the ubiquitous industry standard in personal computer software, although their successors Windows Vista and, by the end of the decade, Windows 7, see increasing market penetration.
• Open source and free software continues to be a notable but minority interest, with versions of Linux gaining in popularity, as well as the Mozilla Firefox web browser and the OpenOffice.org document editor.
• Blogs, portals, and wikis become common electronic dissemination methods for professionals, amateurs, and businesses to conduct knowledge management.
  • Wikipedia began and grew rapidly, becoming the largest encyclopedia and most well known wiki in the world.
• Wireless networks are becoming ever more commonplace in homes, education institutes and urban public spaces.
• Peer-to-peer technology use: internet telephony (Skype), file-sharing. The Internet becomes a major source of all types of media, from music to movies, thanks to file-sharing peer-to-peer programs such as KaZaA and Limewire. The debate continues over the ethics of file-sharing. Legal music download services such as iTunes and the re-designed Napster open up a new market of digital downloading. Napster, even its current version, becomes the number one music swapping enterprise of all time.
• The entire videogame industry's profits surpassed the movie industry's in 2004. {{citation}}: Empty citation (help)
• The tech bubble burst for the most part in late 2000 and after three years of negative growth the market began its rebound in 2003 and has continued to see moderate growth through 2006.
• Social networking websites like Myspace and Facebook and microblogging platforms like Twitter gain in popularity.
• Smartboards in schools gain acceptance and are adopted rapidly during the middle years of the decade.

Video

TiVo typifies the growth in DVRs

• Digital cameras become very popular due to rapid decreases in size and cost while photo resolution steadily increases. As a result sales of film reel cameras diminish greatly, and integration into mobile phones increase greatly.
• Graphic cards become powerful enough to render ultra-high-resolution (e.g. 2560x1600) scenes in real time with substantial detail and texture.
• Flat panel displays begin displacing cathode ray tubes. This is a dramatic change during the decade as very few flat panels were sold through the mid 2000s and the majority of stores sell only flat panel TVs now.
• Handheld projectors enter the market and are then integrated into cellphones.
• The digital switchover starts being enforced for television.
• OLED (Organic light-emitting diode) technology revolutionizes display technology, making it possible to "print" screens on everyday objects.
• Digital video recorders (DVRs) allow consumers to modify content they watch on TV, and to record TV programs and watch them later, leading to problems as consumers can fast-forward through commercials, making them useless and saving TV show for later viewing, causing a decline in TV viewing.
• Internet usage surpasses TV viewing in 2004. Satellite TV and Cable TV, with an exception for digital cable loses its ratings as network television ratings gradually increase.
• Networks start streaming shows online.
• An increase in online DVD rental services such as Netflix.
• DVDs, and subsequently Blu-ray Discs, replace VCR technology as the common standard in homes and at video stores, although inexpensive VCRs and videocassettes can still be found at some thrift stores and discount stores.

Vehicles

• Major advances in Hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, Ford Escape, and the Honda Insight.
• Greater interest in future energy development due to global warming and the potential exhaustion of crude oil. Photovoltaics increase in popularity as a result.
• Many more computers and other technologies incorporated into vehicles such as Xenon HID headlights, GPS, DVD players, self-diagnosing systems, advanced pre-collision safety systems, memory systems for car settings, back-up sensors and cameras, in-car media systems, MP3 player compatibility, USB drive compatibility, self-parking systems, keyless start and entry, satellite radio, voice-activation, cellphone connectivity, adaptive headlights, HUD (Head-Up-Display), infrared cameras, and Onstar (on GM models).

Communications

Small, powerful, accessibly-priced mobile phones became highly common, and by the end of the decade were expanding quickly in third-world countries.

• The popularity of mobile phones and Text messaging surged in the 2000s in the Western world. The advent of text messaging made possible new forms of interaction that were not possible before, resulting in numerous boons such as the ability to receive information on the move. Nevertheless, it also led to negative social implications such as Text "bullying" and the rise of traffic collisions caused by drivers who were distracted as they were texting while driving.
• Due to the major success of broadband Internet connections, Voice over IP begins to gain popularity as a replacement for traditional telephone lines. Major telecommunications carriers begin converting their networks from TDM to VoIP.
• Videophones are cheap and abundant, yet even by mid-decade, they had not received much attention.
• Mobile phones adopt features such as Internet access, PDA functions, running software applications, video calling, cameras and video recording, and music and video playback as standard. Higher end smartphones continue to offer extra features such as GPS and Wireless.
• Due to improvement in mobile phone displays and memories, most mobile phone carriers offer video viewing services, internet services, and some offer full music downloads, such as Sprint in 2005 and more common use of Bluetooth. This leads to an almost saturation of cell phone ownership among the public, increasing use of mobile phones as everyday carry items and a sharp decline in the use and locations of payphones.

Robotics

• Emerging use of robotics, especially telerobotics in medicine, particularly for surgery.
• Home automation and home robotics advance in North America; iRobot's "Roomba" is the most successful domestic robot and has sold 1.5 million units. (Others of interest include: Robomower, and Scooba as of May 2006)
• The first robotic vehicle completes the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2005 and becomes the first vehicle to be able to navigate itself with no external interference.
• Humanoid robots and robot kits improve considerably, to the point of retailing as toys. This is typified by RoboSapien and Lego Mindstorms respectively.

Other

• Corrective eye surgery becomes popular as costs and potential risk decreases and results further improve.
• GPS (Global Positioning System) becomes very popular especially in the tracking of items or people, and the use in cars. Games that utilize the system, such as geocaching, emerge and become popular.
• The Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster occurred in February 2003.
• RFID (Radio Frequency ID) becomes widely used in retail giants such as Wal-Mart, as a way to track items and automate stocking and keeping track of items.
• Self-serve kiosks become very widely available, used for all kinds of shopping, airplane boarding passes, hotel check-ins, fast food, banking, and car rental. ATMs become nearly universal in much of the First World and very common even in poorer countries and their rural areas.
• SpaceshipOne made the first privately-funded human spaceflight. (June 21, 2004)
• 244 new drugs were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.