| 2004 | An AIDS vaccine is created, but it only works on one strain of the virus. | |
| 2005 | The Human Genome project is complete years ahead of schedule and under budget. | |
| 2006 | The EU enacts an extreme genetic privacy regulation. Health organizations cannot reveal anything about a person's genetic makeup without permission. Many other nations pass less strenuous laws over the next few years. | |
| 2011 | AIDS is defeated. Reporters uncover one phony research organization to have taken $2M in AIDS research money with no work done (and no lab!). | |
| 2017 | scientists create an artificial virus which can hypothetically replace arbitrary genes if it is programmed in the right way, but only in a small number of cells. They demonstrate that they can mess with phenotypes of bacteria | |
| 2020 | DNA scanning is simplified and perfected. It is now just a matter of submitting a drop of blood to see if you are susceptible to a disease. | |
| 2021 | Researchers develop the ability to use artificial viruses to tamper with embryo of multicellular organisms. People talk about how bad eugenics is and how this technique should never be applied to humans. A few nations jump the gun and outlaw embryonic genetic tweaking. However, some nations like the Sweden, Japan and Canada deliberately do not outlaw it because there is the potential for ending many hereditary diseases. | |
| 2026 | A group of scientists grow non-specialized, cloned human tissue in lab. For example, they can make primitive skin used to treat burn patients, but it never looks or feels like real skin. | |
| 2030 | A virus used to cure humans of Lupus. Children are screened for this and cured routinely by the end of the year | |
| 2033 | A virus intending to cure Lou Gehrig Disease has a nasty side effect on a small minority of male children causing sterility. Scientists are sued for vast quantities of money, but none face criminal charges. | |
| 2035 | Scientists clone pieces of complex animal organs in a vat. | |
| 2037 | A technique is created to artificially join a sperm and an egg such that the perfect sperm can be picked to get half of the genetic properties wanted in the resulting new being. The technique is soon used by animal breeders, but it is banned for humans. | |
| 2038 | A French couple and doctor are arrested for trying to artificially select the genotypes of their future child. A black market for genetic tweaking of children revealed in its infancy. | |
| 2040 | Scientists create cloned, solitary monkey hearts in lab, but none live more than a few hours after transplanted into animals. | |
| 2042 | The field of neurobiology is revolutionized by a (slow, laborious) technique to trace neurons in a living brain. Scientists start to try to decode the human mind like they did with the human genome. | |
| 2049 | Artificial human organs can be lab-grown via cloning for transplant. For example, a new pancreas can be grown for diabetics. They don't last more than a couple of years, but they're better than traditional transplants for many people since they do not suffer from tissue rejection problems. | |
| 2056 | The cloning process for artificial transplant organs is improved so the organs can last as long as the originals would. | |
| 2065 | Suspended animation is invented, based on very deep hibernation. People are given drugs and chilled in special biomonitoring chambers. The maximum duration is found to be about a week. | |
| 2068 | After many false starts, the Neural Mapping Project is underway. This is an attempt to decode the human mind and understand our method of rational thought. | |
| 2071 | Although the Neural Mapping Project is officially done and a lot has been learned, the brain is far from completely solved. However, the data from this project helps to improve AI over the next 30 years. | |
| 2075 | Advances to suspended animation allow it to last about six months. | |
| 2087 | After the Mars War, it is revealed that a EU military research performed bioexperiments on unwitting soldiers in an attempt to improve their resistance to some bioagents. Several hundred of soldiers died, and the operation was covered up until after the end of the war. When the coverup is revealed though, it turns out that many high-level officials knew about the tests. The scandal shakes the European military complex, which was already devastated by the unsuccessful war. | |
| 2092 | Large group is uncovered on Y'Barra who is practicing eugenics. Apparently for many years (probably since the colony was founded), they have been artificially selecting the genetic makeup of their offspring. At first, the adults are all jailed, but then released when huge popular sympathy for the children convinces the government that there is no point in imprisoning them all. | |