2000s in science and technology

This page contains major developments and trends inScience and Technology for the 2000s.

Science and technology articles

Contents by decades and years

Science Decades
Technology
Information technology 1970s · 1980s · 1990s · 2000s ·
Software development 2010s
Video
Vehicles and energy Years
Communications
Robotics 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004
Space technology 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009
Healthcare
General retail
See also
References

Science
Astrophysicists studying the universe confirmed its age at 13.7 billion
years,[1] discovered that it will most likelyexpand forever without limit,
and concluded that only 4% of the universe's contents are ordinary
matter (the other 96% being still-mysteriousdark matter, dark energy,
and dark fluid).
The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Missionsuccessfully reached the
surface of Mars in 2004, and sent detailed data and images of the
landscape there back toEarth. 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 25 times the projectedlength.
The Human Genome Projectwas completed.
The Mars Exploration Rovers have
The National Geographic Societyand IBM funded The Genographic
Project. provided vast amounts of information
In 2002, Perelman posted the first of a series of eprints to the arXiv, in by functioning well beyond NASA's
which he proved the Poincaré conjecture, original estimates.
On 29 July 2005, the discovery ofEris, a Kuiper Belt object larger than
Pluto, was announced. In August 2006Pluto was "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 began with American Dennis Tito, paying Russia US$20 million for a week-long
stay to the International Space Station.
The Voyager 1 spacecraft entered theheliosheath, marking its departure from oursolar system.[2]
Scientists discovered water ice on theMoon in 2009.
AFIS and CODIS became the main forensic tools for fingerprint and genetic code investigation in the
industrialized
world and some developing countries.

Technology
Information technology
There was a huge jump inbroadband internet usageglobally - for
example, it comprised only 6% of U.S. internet users in June 2000 [4]

and one mid-decade study predicted 62% adoption by 2010. [5] Yet, by
February 2007, over 80% of US Internet users were connected via
broadband and broadband internet became almost a required standard
for quality internet browsing.[6] 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.[7]

There was a boom in music downloading and the use ofdata

compression to quickly transfer music over the Internet, with a
corresponding rise of portabledigital audio players, typified by Apple's This contemporary illustration shows
iPod, along with other MP3 players. Digital music sales rose, accounting the look personal computers took,
for 6% of all music sales in 2005.[8] Digital music options were which differed from the monitor-over-
integrated into other devices such assmartphones and the popular
PlayStation Portable (PSP). By the latter half of the decade, generic system unit look that dominated
MP3 players were startingto mimic the features of the extremely much of the late 20th century.
popular iPod and Zune. Personal computers also started
As a result of the widespread popularity and social impact ofGoogle coming out mainly in black,[3] in
Search, the word "google" came to be used as averb. contrast to the universal creamy
Adobe Flash technology reached the point of being able to make video white of much of the late 20th
players. As a result, YouTube, a website which allows uploading and century.
viewing videos, was created. YouTube's popularity grew explosively and
it was acquired by Google.
Data storage prices continued to drop, going from approximately $7
USD per GB in early 2000 to $0.07 USD per GB in 2009. [9]

Due to an increase in capacity, USB flash drives rapidly replaced Zip

disks and floppy discs (by Iomega) and 3.5-inch diskettes.
The first 2 TB hard drives were developed and beginning to be used.[10]
Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 became the ubiquitous industry
standard in personal computer software, although their successors
Windows Vista and, by the end of the decade,Windows 7, saw
increasing market penetration.
Open-source and free software continued to be a notable but minority
interest, with versions of theLinux kernel gaining in popularity, as well
as the Mozilla Firefox web browser and the OpenOffice.org productivity
suite.
Blogs, portals, intranets and wikis became common electronic
dissemination methods for professionals, amateurs, and businesses to As with the 1980s and 1990s, there
conduct knowledge management. continued to be smaller system units,
Wikipedia began and grew, becoming both the largest encyclopedia, including all-in-one computers.
and the most widely readwiki in the world.
Wireless networks became ever more commonplace in homes,
education institutes and urban public spaces.
Peer-to-peer technology was used in a major way, such as internet telephony (Skype), file-sharing. The Internet
became a major source of all types of media, from music to movies, thanks initially to file-sharing peer-to-peer
programs such as Kazaa and LimeWire. The debate continued over the ethics offile sharing. Legal music download
services such as iTunes and streaming services such asSpotify opened up new markets.
The video game industry's profits surpassed the movie industry's in 2004.
The US tech bubble burst for the most part in early 2000s and after three years of negative growth the technology
market began its rebound in 2003.
Social networking websites likeMyspace and Facebook and microblogging platforms like Twitter gained in
popularity.
Smartboards in schools gained acceptance and were adopted rapidly during the middle years of the decade.
E-book readers using electronic paper technology were developed, and enjoyed modest popularity .

Software development

The Agile Manifesto was launched and agile project management approaches such asScrum grew in popularity.
However, due to factors such as inflexibility inprocurement processes, and lack of expertise among civil servants,
 government computing projects continued tofail with regularity, notably in the United Kingdom.
A large number of software development andsoftware testing jobs in rich nations wereoffshored to less wealthy
countries such as India and Russia, mirroring aglobalisation trend that had already occurred in physical
manufacturing. This led to a great deal of job creation in the IT sector in countries like India (in parallel with other
offshored office jobs such as call centre worker), and the most in-demand Indian software developers found their
salaries rose to levels comparable with Western developers, despite the substantially lower costs of living they
enjoyed. However, not all employers were happy with the quality of work they saw by outsourcing and of fshoring,
and some took jobs back in-house, or at least "on-shore".

There was also a trend of offshoring software development work to cities likeDubai and Singapore - where
Western developers rubbed shoulders with other foreign workers - and "offshoring" within the EU (including
nearshoring).

Video
Digital cameras became very popular due to rapid decreases in size and
cost while photo resolution steadily increased. As a result, sales of film
reel cameras diminished greatly, and integration into mobile phones
increased greatly; sexting by teenagers also became a controversial
social issue, with teenagers - and even in one case a school
administrator who investigated a sexting case - being arrested.
Graphics processing units(GPUs) and video cards became powerful
enough to render ultra-high-resolution (e.g. 2560 × 1600) scenes in real
time with substantial detail and texture.
Flat panel displays began displacing cathode ray tubes. This was a
dramatic change during the decade, as very few flat panels were sold TiVo typified the growth in DVRs
through the mid-2000s (decade)and the majority of stores sell only flat
panel TVs by the end of the decade.
Handheld projectors entered the market and were then integrated into cellphones.
The digital switchover started to be enforced for television.
The introduction of digital video recorders (DVRs) allowed consumers to modify content they watch on TV , and to
record TV programs and watch them later , leading to problems as consumers could fast-forward through
commercials, making them useless, and save TV shows for later viewing, causing a decline in live TV viewing.
However, these problems were already present with video tapes.
Internet usage surpassed TV viewing in 2004.Satellite TV and cable TV (with the exception ofdigital cable) lost
ratings as network television ratings gradually increased.
TV networks started streaming shows online.
There was an increase in usage of online DVD rental services such asNetflix.
DVDs, and subsequently Blu-ray Discs, replaced VCR technology as the common standard in homes and at video
stores, although inexpensive VCRs and videocassettes could still be found at some thrift stores and discount stores.

Vehicles and energy

There were major advances inhybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, Ford Escape, and the Honda Insight.
Many more computers and other technologies were 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, andOnstar (on GM models).
There was greater interest infuture energy developmentdue to global warming and the potential scenario ofpeak
oil, even though these problems had been known about for decades.Photovoltaics increased in popularity and
decreased in cost as a result of increased public interest and generous public subsidies.

Communications
The popularity of mobile phones and text messaging surged in the 2000s decade in theWestern 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 oftraffic collisions caused by drivers who were distracted as they weretexting
while driving.
 Due to the major success of broadband Internet connections,Voice over
IP (VoIP) began to gain popularity as a replacement for traditional
telephone lines. Major telecommunications carriers beganconverting
their networks from TDM to VoIP.
Unusually for a development heralded by science fiction,videophones
were cheap and abundant, yet even by mid-decade, they had not
received much attention, perhaps due to the high cost of video calls
relative to ordinary calls. Small, powerful, accessibly priced
Mobile phones adopted features such as Internet access,PDA mobile phones became highly
functions, running software applications, video calling, cameras and common, and by the end of the
video recording, and music and video playback as standard. Higher end
decade were expanding quickly in
smartphones continue to offer extra features such asGPS and Wireless.
third-world countries.[11][12]
Due to improvements inmobile phone displays and memories, most
mobile phone carriers offered video viewing services, internet services,
and some offered full music downloads, suchas Sprint in 2005 and
more common use of Bluetooth. This led to a virtual saturation of cell phone ownership among the public in the
developed world, increasing the use of mobile phones aseveryday carry items, and a sharp decline in the use and
numbers of payphones.

Robotics
As in previous decades,robotics continued to develop, especiallytelerobotics in medicine, particularly forsurgery.
Home automation and home robotics advanced in North America;iRobot's "Roomba" was the most successful
domestic robot and sold 1.5 million units. (Others of interest include:Robomower, and Scooba as of May 2006)
The first robotic vehicle completed the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2005 and became the first vehicle to be able to
navigate itself with no external interference.
Humanoid robots and robot kits improved considerably, to the point of retailing as toys. This was typified by
RoboSapien and Lego Mindstorms respectively.

Space technology
GPS (Global Positioning System) became very popular , especially in the tracking of items or people, and the use in
cars. Games that utilize the system, such asgeocaching, emerged and developed a niche following.
The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred in February 2003.
SpaceShipOne made the first privately funded humanspaceflight on June 21, 2004.[13]

Healthcare
Corrective eye surgery became popular as costs and potential risk decreased and results further improved.
244 new drugs were approved by the U.S.Food and Drug Administration.

General retail
RFID (Radio Frequency ID) became widely used in retail giantssuch as Wal-Mart, as a way to track items and
automate stocking and keeping track of items.
Self-serve kiosks became very widely available, and were used for all kinds of shopping, airplane boarding passes,
hotel check-ins, fast food, banking, and car rental.ATMs became nearly universal in much of the First W
orld and
very common even in poorer countries and their rural areas.[14]

See also
2000 in science
2001 in science
2002 in science
2003 in science
2004 in science
2005 in science
 2006 in science
2007 in science
2008 in science
2009 in science
2010 in science
History of science and technology
List of science and technology articles by continent
List of years in science
2010s in science and technology

References
1. WMAP mission (2006-03-16)."The Age of the Universe with New Accuracy"(http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_mm/mr_ag
e.html). NASA. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20080123063220/http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_mm/mr_age.ht
ml) from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2008.
2. "SPACE.com -- It's Official: Water Found on the Moon" (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090923-moon-wat
er-discovery.html). Archived (https://www.webcitation.org/5kNGKZzjB?url=http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/
090923-moon-water-discovery.html) from the original on 2009-10-08. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
3. "Beige/White Cases" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080210025426/http://www .directron.com/beigecase.html).
Directron.com, Inc., Houston, Texas. Archived from the original (http://www.directron.com/beigecase.html)on 10
February 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2008. "Beige/White had been a common color for PC cases and monitors for
years. It lost popularity to other colors like black
"
4. Bethea, Neil; Jacob Williams & Yiwen Yu (June 2003). "Broadband services in the United States"(https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20060904211822/http://www.nrri.ohio-state.edu/dspace/bitstream/2068/814/3/Article%2B1-Bethea%2B_B
roadband_.pdf) (PDF). Ohio State University. p. 9. Archived from the original (https://www.nrri.ohio-state.edu/dspace/
bitstream/2068/814/3/Article+1-Bethea+_Broadband_.pdf)(PDF) on 4 September 2006. Retrieved 20 January 2008.
"Growth of Broadband Users:June 2000:total:4,367,434 "
5. Sharma, Dinesh (2005-08-02)."Study: Broadband penetration to surge by 2010"(http://news.cnet.com/Study+Broad
band+penetration+to+surge+by+2010/2100-1034_3-5815756.html) . CNET News.com. Archived (https://web.archive.
org/web/20140714125210/http://news.cnet.com/Study%2BBroadband%2Bpenetration%2Bto%2Bsurge%2Bby%2B2
010/2100-1034_3-5815756.html)from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2007.
6. "US Broadband Penetration Breaks 80% Among Active Internet Users"(http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/070
3/). WebSiteOptimization.com. May 2007.Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20080216114731/http://www
.websit
eoptimization.com/bw/0703/)from the original on 16 February 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2008.
7. "Total broadband subscribers by country (Dec. 2008)" (https://web.archive.org/web/20100307083254/http://www
.oec
d.org/dataoecd/22/15/39574806.xls). OECD. May 2009. Archived fromthe original (http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/2
2/15/39574806.xls) on 7 March 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2009.
8. Associated Press (2006-01-19)."Digital Music Sales Booming"(https://archive.is/20121210100041/http://webcache.
googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:p5Fm88lmY p8J:www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70045-0.html). Wired
News. Archived from the original (https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:p5Fm88lmY p8J:www.wi
red.com/news/technology/0,70045-0.html)on 2012-12-10. Retrieved 20 January 2008.
9. "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/20150714062141/http://www .jcmit.com/diskprice.htm). Archived from
the original (http://www.jcmit.com/diskprice.htm)on 2015-07-14. Retrieved 2015-07-25.
10. History of hard disk drives#Timeline
11. "Archives for the category: Mobile phone projects - Third W
orld" (http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/cat_mobil
e_phone_projects_third_world.htm). textually.org. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20080125170522/http://ww
w.textually.org/textually/archives/cat_mobile_phone_projects_third_world.htm)from the original on 25 January 2008.
Retrieved 19 January 2008.
12. Selanikio, Joel (2008-01-18)."The invisible computer revolution"(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7106998.st
m). BBC News. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20080119060855/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/71069
98.stm) from the original on 19 January 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2008. "important sub-groups in that region
[high-growth areas of sub-Saharan Africa, the fastest growing cell phone market in the world,] have much higher
penetration than the general population ... many [of whom] have access to one via a friend or family member
"
13. Belfiore, Michael (2007).Rocketeers: how a visionary band of business leaders, engineers, and pilots is boldly
privatizing space (https://books.google.com/books?id=u6NlCK_8h_4C) . New York: Smithsonian Books. pp. 80–111.
ISBN 978-0-06-114903-0. Retrieved 2014-12-28.
14. Williamson, Simon (2003-11-26)."Why run Windows on an ATM?" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080426041949/htt
p://simonwillison.net/2003/Nov/26/windowsOnATMs/). Archived from the original (http://simonwillison.net/2003/Nov/2
6/windowsOnATMs/) (blog) on 26 April 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2008. "Remember, a lot of banks in third world
countries have ATMs."

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