-CNN launched 24 hrs news network

-RU-486 abortion pill released in France

-Richard Pryor badly burned from free-basing cocaine

-”Who Shot JR?” becomes national obsession

-Small pox considered eradicated

-US Supreme Court allows patents on living organisms (bacterium)

-Ronald Reagan elected

-Post-It notes introduced

-John Lennon assasinated

-Genetic engineering of insulin begins clinical trials

-US hockey team beats Russia in Olympics

-Less painful rabies vaccine developed

-ME!ME!ME! generation takes over

-New breed of billionaires emerges (think Donald Trump)

-Voyager explores Saturn

-Confederacy of Dunces published

Possible trajectory: reproduction/genetics/biology/control