- 1985: Richard E. Smalley and Harold W. Kroto discover "Buckyballs", a
soccer ball like molecule made of 60 carbon atoms.
- 1985:
Low petroleum prices lead to the cancellation of the US Government
sponsored "Synfuels" project, designed to develop alternative energy
sources based on coal or oil shales.
- 1986:
Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor #4 explodes, releasing large amounts of
radiation near Kiev, USSR.
- 1986:
NASA's Space Shuttle, Challenger, explodes shortly after take off.
- 1986:
K. Alex Muller and George J. Bednorz discover a superconductor that
operates at 30 degrees Kelvin. This sets off an explosion in "high"
temperature superconductors.
- 1987:
Japan's "Nipon Zeon" company develops a plastic with "memory". At low
temperatures it can be bent and twisted, however when heated
above 37 degrees Celsius it returns to its initial shape.
- 1988:
A Scanning Tunneling Microscope produces the first picture of a
Benzene Ring.
- 1988:
North Sea oil platform explodes prompting England to require risk
assessments in oil industry.
- 1988:
McDonald's fast food chain stops using the "clamshell" to
package its hamburgers because of fears over the CFC's used in
manufacturing Polystyrene.
- 1989:
An Exxon Oil Tanker, the Valdez, runs aground in of
the coast of Alaska.
- 1989:
The fall of Berlin Wall.
- 1989:
"The New Yorker" magazine raises the possibility that electromagnetic fields
might cause cancer. Over the next decade, US taxpayers spend $25 billion
funding studies which find no link between power lines and cancer. Similar
epidemiological studies in Canada and Britain also find no link.
- 1989:
The Human Geonome Project, designed to map all the genes in a human
being, is launched.
- 1989:
Stanley Pons & Martin Fleischmann boldly announce the "invention" of cold
fusion. Results have never been duplicated and are agreed to have been
faulty.
- 1990:
Lithuania declares independence from Soviet Union in March 11. As
response USSR sends troops and blocks gas and oil supplies.
- 1990:
Federal Trade Commission opens antitrust probe of Microsoft.
- 1991:
The Soviet Union formally dissolves.
- 1991:
Washington D.C. has a victory parade, celebrating the decisive US
success against Iraq in the Gulf War.
- 1992:
The Australian Government begins a three year plan to introduce
plastic $5, $10, $20, $50, & $100 bills.
- 1993:
New York's "World Trade Center" is bombed by terrorists. The explosive
was created by a 26-year-old chemical engineer educated at Rutgers
University.
- 1993:
The high price of replacing a corroding heat exchanger causes the
Portland General Electric Company to retire, rather than repair, its
Nuclear Power Plant in Rainier Oregon.
- 1994:
More computers than television sets are sold.
- 1994:
Eurotunnel opens. The 50 kilometer long tunnel connects England with
France.
- 1995:
The Shinri Kyo cult uses Sarin nerve gas in the deadly Tokyo
subway attack.
- 1995:
A bomb made from ammonium nitrate fertilizer and fuel oil
destroys the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK.
- 1995:
Dow-Corning files bankruptcy after being sued by 19000 women over
"faulty" breast implants.
- 1996:
Dolly, a female sheep, becomes the first mammal to be cloned from
an adult mammal's cells. This incredible work was carried out at Edinburgh's
Roslin Institute, and its announcement sparked a rash of discussion and
legislation concerning the morality of cloning human beings.
- 1996:
Olestra, a fat-free fat replacer, is approved for use in salted snacks by
the FDA after 10 years of deliberation. Olestra is a novel lipid made from
sucrose and soybean oil. With up to 8 fatty acids attached to the sucrose
molecule, instead of the 3 fatty acids typically found in fat, enzymes are
unable to break down Olestra. The Procter & Gamble company has been studying the
safety of Olestra for nearly 30 years.
- 1996:
Britain announces that 10 people have contracted mad cow disease, or
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), from contaminated beef. In response,
3.7 million cattle are slaughtered.
- 1996:
A NASA funded team finds evidence that suggests microbial life may
have existed on Mars more than 3.6 billion years ago. The evidence consists
of traces of organic compounds and mineral features characteristic
of biological activity.
- 1996:
Troll offshore platform begins collecting natural gas off the Norwegian
coast. At 369 meters tall (most submerged) and 656,000 tons it is one of the
worlds largest structures.
- 1997:
Mar's Pathfinder becomes the first spacecraft to land on Mars in more
than two decades. Its automated rover provides close-up views of
"Barnacle Bill" and other Martian rocks while its novel airbag landing
demonstrates NASA's commitment to more numerous, less expensive missions.
- 1998:
Government begins antitrust trial of Microsoft.
- 2000:
Y2K bug costs $100 billion to fix. Doomsday scenarios averted.
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