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Archive of Human Genius
The world’s largest database of good news and social change milestones from throughout human history
A Timeline of Human History
We are building the world’s largest database of social change milestones, from the first fire to today’s good news. Change is not only possible, it has happened consistently throughout human history.
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Era Tomorrow (2026 C.E. - ???)
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Topic All #Resist Abortion rights & access Activism & Protests Agriculture Air pollution Animal husbandry & domestication Animal rights & well-being Architecture & design Artificial intelligence Arts, music, literature & entertainment Astronomy & space exploration Athletics & sport Black Lives Matter Blockchain & cryptocurrency Capital punishment Caste abolition Child well-being Circular economy & zero waste Cities Civilization Clean & renewable energy Climate crisis Clothing Colonialism Communication & language Conscious management Consumer rights & well-being Corporate responsibility COVID-19 Crime Culture Dark skies Death & Grief Debt Decolonization Democracy & voting Disabilities & special needs Discovery & exploration Drinking water; sanitation & hygiene Drugs & Entheogens Economic inequality Education Elections Electrification Environment Ethical sourcing Ethics Evolution Finance Flora & fauna Food & diet Free speech & censorship Fresh water conservation Gay rights Gender Genocide Government Green bonds Green space Gun safety Hate speech Healthcare Houselessness Human rights Immigration Independence Indigenous rights & well-being Infrastructure International cooperation Internet rights Journalism Justice system Kindness Kingdoms & empire Law LGBTQ+ rights & well-being Life expectancy & mortality Literature Local resilience Marine conservation Medicine Men's health & well-being Mental health & addiction Migration & settlement Military Mindfulness & self-care Minimum wage Mythology & folklore Nations Natural gas & divestment News & media No coal No fracking Nuclear disarmament Numbers & math Ocean health Oil Oil, natural gas & divestment Parenting Paris Agreement Peace Philanthropy Philosophy Physics Plastic pollution Police reform Pollution Poverty alleviation Prison justice Privacy & security Public health & disease Public safety Racial justice Refugees Religion Reparations Reproductive rights Responsible sourcing & consumption Revolution Rights of nature Same-sex marriage Seniors' rights & well-being Sexual assault & domestic violence Shamanism & rituals Social media Sustainability Sustainable Development Goals Technology & innovation Tourism Trade Transgender rights & well-being Transportation Trees & reforestation Universal basic income Water pollution Wildlife & land conservation Women's rights & well-being Workers' rights & well-being Youth & student movements
Country All Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia-Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Chad Cherokee Nation Chile China Colombia Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Democratic Republic of Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia European Union Faroe Islands Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Navajo Nation Nepal New Caledonia New Zealand / Aotearoa Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue North Korea North Macedonia Northern Ireland Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Scotland Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South America South Korea South Sudan Soviet Union Spain Sri Lanka St. Kitts & Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria Tahiti Taiwan Tanzania Thailand The Bahamas The Gambia The Netherlands The Philippines Timor Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad & Tobago Tristan da Cunha Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Wales Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe
Actor All Activists Artists & philosophers Athletes Business Cities Citizens Civil society Consumers Courts Early humans Engineers Finance Government Humanity Humankind Indigenous groups International organizations Inventors Kingdoms & empires Media & Journalists Military Nations Non-humans Regions Religious groups Science & academia Scientists & mathematicians Settlers & explorers States & provinces Utilities Workers World leaders
2024 C.E.
May 8 The Teal Wand is an at-home self-collect device that aims to improve rates of screenings and provide a comfortable and accessible alternative to traditional pap smears. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has now granted the Teal Wand with Breakthrough Device status; a designation awarded to medical devices that the FDA considers “life-saving” or “life-changing.”
2024 C.E.
May 8 Global renewable electricity production is growing at an unprecedented pace, according to a new report from climate think tank Ember. For the first time ever, in 2023, renewables supplied 30% of the world's annual electricity supply, thanks to the rapid deployment of solar and wind technology.
2024 C.E.
May 8 In 2021, the world's first large-scale carbon removal plant started sucking CO2 from the air in a remote corner of Iceland. Now Climeworks, the company behind it, has opened a version that’s ten times larger. The new plant, called Mammoth, has installed 12 modular containers so far. By the end of the year, it will have 72, with the capacity to capture around 36,000 tons of CO2 per year.
2024 C.E.
May 8 Voters have made history by electing emergency room nurse and community organizer Molly Cook as Texas’s first out LGBTQ+ state senator. The Democrat’s victory was the result of a special election to fill the seat of John Whitmire (D), who is now Houston’s mayor.
2024 C.E.
May 8 The law makes it legal to give prostitutes employment contracts, after Belgium became the first country in Europe to decriminalize self-employed sex work in 2022. It bestows certain rights on the worker and conditions on their employer. These include the right to refuse a client or a sexual act, as well as the right to interrupt a sexual act at any time without fear of dismissal or punishment.
2024 C.E.
May 7 Synthetic opioids are one of the main drivers in overdose deaths in the United States. They are often mixed with other drugs, but because of their potency, they are often present in such small amounts that they can be hard to detect. The new sensor, developed by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, uses carbon nanotubes and gold nanoparticles to tell the most deadly drugs apart from others.
2024 C.E.
May 7 Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew traditionally used by Indigenous cultures in the Amazon and Orinoco. It is now often used to help treat depression, PTSD, trauma, and other mental illnesses and to promote spiritual and emotional development. The Church of the Eagle and the Condor is officially the first non-Christian church in the U.S to obtain legal protections to use it as a sacrament.
2024 C.E.
May 6 The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released an updated analysis of American fisheries late last week via its annual “Status of the Stocks” report, which provides an assessment of the populations of the seafood species fishermen catch and customers buy. The report states that 94% of fish stocks are not subject to overfishing. NOAA said it was able to remove Atlantic coast bluefish and a Washington coast stock of coho salmon from the overfished list.
2024 C.E.
May 3 In a historic win for the LGBTQ+ community, Aetna reached a settlement today with a group of plaintiffs alleging medical discrimination in their fertility coverage. The insurance company is paying out $2 million to the members of the class action lawsuit, as well as restructuring how they cover fertility for queer couples moving forward. This marks the first big step toward ending fertility-based medical discrimination for LGBTQ+ couples.
2024 C.E.
May 3 Denmark is easing its abortion law for the first time in 50 years to allow women to terminate their pregnancies up to the 18th week. The new rules will also allow 15 to 17-year-olds to have an abortion without parental consent and will replace the five regional abortion consultations with a new national abortion board, to avoid local differences.
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