Science and Medicine

1990s

The 1990s (often referred to as and shortened to "the '90s" or "the Nineties") was a decade that began on 1 January 1990, and ended on 31 December 1999. Known as the "post-Cold War decade", the 1990s were culturally imagined as the period from the Revolutions of 1989 until the September 11 attacks in 2001. The dissolution of the Soviet Union marked the end of Russia's status as a superpower, the end of a multipolar world, and the rise of anti-Western sentiment. China was still recovering from a politically and economically turbulent period, allowing the US to emerge as the world's sole superpower, creating relative peace and prosperity for many western countries. During this decade, the world population grew from 5.3 to 6.1 billion. The decade saw greater attention to multiculturalism and advance of alternative media. Public education about safe sex curbed HIV in developed countries. Generation X bonded over musical tastes. Humor in television and film was marked by ironic self-references mixed with popular culture references. Alternative music movements like grunge, reggaeton, Eurodance, K-pop, and hip-hop, became popular, aided by the rise in satellite and cable television, and the internet. New music genres such as drum and bass, post-rock, happy hardcore, denpa, and trance emerged. Video game popularity exploded due to the development of CD-ROM supported 3D computer graphics on platforms such as Sony PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and PCs. The 1990s saw advances in technology, with the World Wide Web, evolution of the Pentium microprocessor, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, the first gene therapy trial, and cloning. The Human Genome Project was launched in 1990, by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with the goal to sequence the entire human genome. Building the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, commenced in 1998, and Nasdaq became the first US stock market to trade online. Environmentalism is divided between left-wing green politics, primary industry-sponsored environmentalist front organizations, and a more business-oriented approach to the regulation of carbon footprint of businesses.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Cordon sanitaire (medicine)
• ▸1830
• ▸Citizen science

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