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The Internet -

The Internet is, without a doubt, the most influential invention of the last 30 years, if not the last century. Since the World Wide Web software was made public in 1993, the Internet has gone on to change the way we communicate, exchange information, manage finances, and experience the world at large.

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Adobe Photoshop -

What started as a simple image editing software in 1990 has gone on to become one of the most widely used tools in the world. A competent understanding of Photoshop is now considered a necessary skill in all sorts of industries, from the arts to marketing and web development.

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Mobile GPS -

When mobile GPS devices hit the shelves in the '90s, the days of the road atlas and sites like MapQuest were officially numbered. Today, nearly everyone in the world carries a GPS in their pocket via their smartphone.

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Text messaging -

The first "short message service," or SMS message, was sent on December 3, 1992. That text message was the beginning of a communication revolution, and now, some 30 years later, texting has become the primary mode of communication for billions of people around the globe.

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Cloning -

Cloning is still muddled in controversy to this day, but it has been an obsession of scientists for many decades. In 1996, what was once the stuff of science fiction became reality, when Dolly the Sheep (pictured) was successfully cloned from an adult sheep cell.

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Netflix -

When Netflix officially launched in 1997, it's doubtful that anyone foresaw the extent to which it would change the way we consumed entertainment. But, as time has proven, Netflix went from being a simple DVD rental service to turning the entertainment industry on its head, changing the way movies and TV shows are made, distributed, and enjoyed, forever.

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Drones -

Unmanned drones have also had quite a surprisingly massive impact on the world. Apart from becoming a hit Christmas present and changing the worlds of photography, cinema, and surveillance, they have also drastically changed the way that wars are fought. Today, military drones are responsible for the lion's share of military casualties and civilian deaths alike.

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Mobile broadband -

Cell phones and text messages were revolutionary in their own right, but the introduction of mobile internet at the turn of the century was an entirely new type of beast. All of a sudden there was an endless wealth of information at the very tips of humanity's fingertips.

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Hybrid and electric cars -

As global awareness of the effects of fossil fuels grew throughout the end of the 20th century, car companies began looking for ways to capitalize on the world's need for an alternative to traditional fuels. The first to truly kickstart the movement of hybrid and fully electric cars was the Toyota Prius, released in 1997. The Prius hybrid car paved the way for other cars to follow in its path.

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iPod -

While the iPod wasn't the first MP3 player on the market, it is certainly the product that popularized this new format of music. Gone were the days of walking around with a Discman, scratching your favorite CD. Since the iPod's introduction in 2001, people around the world were able to go anywhere they wanted with their entire music collection in their pocket.

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Google -

Of all the things the Internet has changed for humanity, access to information is certainly the biggest. When Google came about, all of that information floating out in the web became exponentially easier to find. Now, Google is one of the largest companies in the world and handles more information (personal, corporate, and otherwise) than almost any other corporation in the world.

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The International Space Station -

The International Space Station, or ISS, was launched in 1998, but it wasn't finished until 2011. As a long-term base for astronauts to study everything from space's effects on aging to plant growth, the ISS stands not only as a triumph of science but also as a testament to the cooperation that is possible between the world's nations.

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Smartphones -

The merging of PDAs and cell phones put the entire world in our hands. Now, with just one device, we could access our email, set alarms, call and text whomever we pleased, and browse the Internet. No single tool in the history of humanity put so much power in the palm of a hand.

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The Human Genome Map -

One of science's greatest accomplishments was completing the map of the human genome. It took 13 years, but since its completion in 2003, the Human Genome Map has proven instrumental in understanding the human body and protecting it against illnesses and diseases.

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Blockchain technology -

The blockchain, introduced in 2008, is the platform that has made recent fads like cryptocurrency and NFTs possible. It is a decentralized, peer-to-peer network that could very well change the future of currency, intellectual property laws, and even personal identification processes.

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Argus II bionic eye -

In a massive leap forward in the field of bionics and in the quest for improving the lives of the blind, the Argus II bionic eye, invented in 2009 and first implanted in 2015, allows people to see and interpret shapes, light, and depth in ways that allow them to navigate the world mostly uninhibited, and in some cases even read large-print text.

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Capsule endoscopy -

Endoscopies were once a horribly pervasive and uncomfortable experience for patients. However, since the advent of the capsule endoscopy in 2001, the examination of one's gastrointestinal system is as simple as swallowing a pill.

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Solid-state lidar -

Solid-state lidar technology works the same as radars but uses laser lights instead of radio waves to map out its surroundings. This technology has proven indispensable in assessing geographic risks such as landslides and lava flows, and is also being used in the development of self-driving cars.

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Non-invasive birth control -

Birth control patches, which work the same as nicotine patches, are a popular and non-invasive form of birth control that has saved many individuals the trouble of undergoing uncomfortable or sometimes impossible implant surgeries, and does away with the need to stick to a strict pill regiment.

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Artificial hearts -

Another triumph in the field of medicine was the invention and application of artificial hearts. Pumps that can be placed in the chest in place of a full heart have saved the lives of countless people who suffer from heart conditions.

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3D printers -

Indeed, 3D printers have changed the world in far more ways than anyone thought possible. They have proven invaluable when it comes to the production of prosthetic limbs and other helpful commodities, but have also been used for malicious purposes, such as the creation of 3D-printed, untraceable "ghost guns."

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Wikipedia -

One of the greatest successes of open-source cooperation the world has ever seen is Wikipedia, the world's free encyclopedia. Since its introduction in 2001, Wikipedia has run on nothing but donations and has amassed millions of articles on the English version of the site alone.

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Lab-grown lungs and stem cell research -

Although controversial, stem cell research has saved the lives of countless people. Lung tissue grown in petri dishes from stem cells has been transplanted into cancer patients with wonderful, life-saving results.

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Quantum computing -

Quantum mechanics are hard to wrap your head around, even if you're a quantum physicist. In short, quantum mechanics attempt to explain the nature of the universe on a subatomic level, and can maybe even explain the possibility of matter being in two places at once, called superposition. Quantum computers, like IBM's Q System One, is able to compute theories on the same scale.

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The Large Hadron Collider -

The Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, located in the Swiss Alps, is the world's largest particle accelerator and is used to study the nature of the universe on a subatomic level. In 2012, scientists used the LHC to discover the Higgs Boson, a particle that had only been a theory before, and which gives all other particles in the universe their mass.

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Virtual/augmented reality -

Virtual and augmented reality were first utilized by the video game industry, but things are quickly becoming much more serious than that. Today, militaries use virtual reality for training exercises, augmented reality entities are being signed by major record labels, and Mark Zuckerberg seems determined to create an entire alternate universe in virtual reality.

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The Ocean Cleanup Array -

While many industrial and technological advancements only cause more and more harm to our world and the environment, there are thankfully still innovators who wish to undo, or at least slow down, the damage done. A perfect example is the massive Ocean Cleanup Array, a project started in 2013 by then-18-year-old Boyan Slat that is using massive water filtration systems to clean up the world's oceans and rivers.

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HIV monotherapy -

The AIDS crisis has taken the lives of over 40 million people since 1981. First, pharmaceutical companies were at a loss for how to prevent these tragic deaths, and even once they did begin to get a handle on the awful affliction, HIV positive individuals were subjected to exhaustive and damaging regiments of therapies and had to take dozens of pills a day. Thankfully, monotherapies improved, requiring only one or two pills a day, and today HIV is a much easier affliction to live with than it was some three decades ago.

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Tokenization -

Tokenization is the hidden hero of every transfer of money you've ever sent across the Internet. Tokenization creates unique, you guessed it, tokens to help send information across the Internet in completely encrypted, impossible to decode or predict, sequences, to ensure no one can interfere with a transfer between the sender and recipient. 

Sources: (Insider) (The Upcoming) (RIS News)

See also: Baffling inventions science still can't explain

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