---
title: "2010s in science and technology"
chunk: 3/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010s_in_science_and_technology"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:38:08.831866+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

== Computing and artificial intelligence ==
The number of internet users doubled from about 2 billion to about 4 billion, surpassing half the world population in 2018.
Smartphones became increasingly common due to a rapid increase in sales. Their applications and use time by the average user increased, too.
Google develops the world's first self-driving car to be licensed for use on public roads. It was the first driverless ride that was on a public road and was not accompanied by a test driver or police escort. The car had no steering wheel or floor pedals.
In 2012, Google Chrome became the world's most used web browser, displacing former long-time frontrunner Internet Explorer.
Microsoft announces Windows Mixed Reality (previously Windows Holographic).
Quantum computers made rapid progress. In 2019 Google announced to have achieved quantum supremacy, although this claim is disputed.
During this decade artificial intelligence based on deep learning neural networks experienced rapid advancement, resulting in multiple practical applications in diverse fields such as speech and image recognition, social network moderation, virtual assistants, surveillance, healthcare or even art generation. In 2016, Google artificial intelligence program AlphaGo beat human grandmaster in the game of Go for the first time.

=== Legal issues ===
In August 2010, Oracle sued Google  for copyright and patent infringement over the use of Java-related technology in Google's popular Android operating system for smartphones and tablet computers. Oracle asserted Google was aware that they had developed Android without a Java license and copied its APIs, creating the copyright violation. Oracle cited patents related to the Java technology created by Sun and now owned by Oracle that Google should have been aware of.
Following an unprecedented internet protest and blackout campaign in 2012 in which many popular websites took part, the widely criticised Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill was temporarily withdrawn in the US Congress, pending resolution of the issues identified.

=== Software development ===
Collaborative source code sharing website GitHub becomes in 2011 the world's most popular open source hosting site, after in the previous decade attaining the title of the world's most popular Git hosting site.

== Physics ==
2012: The Higgs boson is discovered, completing the discovery of particles of the Standard Model.
2016: Gravitational waves are detected for the first time.

== Robotics and machine learning ==
In 2019, a robot is developed at MIT that can do multiple experiments in fluid dynamics at high speed.

== Biology ==

=== Organisms ===
Researchers at Harvard report the creation of "cyborg organoids", which consist of 3D organoids grown from stem cells, with embedded sensors to measure activity in the developmental process.

=== Genetics ===
In 2019, Scientists announce a new form of DNA, named Hachimoji DNA, composed of four natural and four unnatural nucleobases. Benefits of such an eight-base DNA system may include an enhanced ability to store digital data, as well as insights into what may be possible in the search for extraterrestrial life.
In 2019, Scientists report that the purportedly first-ever germline genetically edited humans, the twin babies Lulu and Nana, by Chinese researcher He Jiankui, may have inadvertently (or perhaps, intentionally) had their brains enhanced.
In 2019, Researchers design an inhalable form of messenger RNA aerosol that could be administered directly to the lungs to help treat diseases such as cystic fibrosis.

=== Medicine ===

In 2019, medical scientists announce that iridium attached to albumin, creating a photosensitized molecule, can penetrate cancer cells and, after being irradiated with light (a process called photodynamic therapy), destroy the cancer cells.

== Gallery ==

== See also ==

Timeline of computing 2010–19
History of science and technology
List of science and technology articles by continent
List of years in science

== References ==