In 1960, the US-based pharmaceutical lab G.D. Searle and Company, or Searle, launched Enovid, one of the first oral birth control pills, following approval by the US Food and Drug Administration, or FDA. Prior to Enovid, there were no oral birth control options for women. Women were reliant on male condoms, homemade concoctions, and other contraceptive methods as barriers to provide them with protection against pregnancy. Women’s rights activists like Margaret Sanger aimed to address that gap by supporting the creation a birth control pill. Sanger collaborated with researchers to formulate a hormonal pill that gives women the ability to protect themselves against getting pregnant. Although some steps in the path to creating the pill were unethical by today’s standards, they did result in the creation of an oral birth control pill. Enovid offered a new method of family planning that gave women the ability to control pregnancy and served as a precursor to additional birth control pills, which over 150 million women use worldwide annually.

A lymphoblastoid cell line, or LCL, is an immortalized population of cells derived from a specific type of white blood cell called a B lymphocyte that scientists around the world began using for biomedical research in the late 1960s. By immortalized, scientists mean that the cells have been altered so they can grow and divide indefinitely, or at least for an extended period of time. That trait of LCLs makes them useful as a replenishable source of cells and the DNA contained within them. Scientists obtain LCLs by first collecting a blood sample and then exposing the B lymphocytes in the blood to Epstein-Barr virus, or EBV. EBV alters the B lymphocytes in such a way that the cells begin to multiply without restraint. Researchers began making and storing LCLs from individuals around the world in the 1960s. As of 2025, LCLs form a mainstay of biomedical research, especially in human genetics and genomics.

The Gomco circumcision clamp is a metal device that medical practitioners use to perform circumcision, or the removal of the foreskin of the penis. Created in 1934 by Hiram S. Yellen, a physician who studied obstetrics and gynecology, and inventor Aaron A. Goldstein, the Gomco clamp was one of the first and, as of 2025, is the most commonly used circumcision clamp in the United States. To use the Gomco clamp, the medical practitioner first separates the foreskin from the glans, or head, of the penis, then places the foreskin into the clamp. The practitioner tightens the clamp, which crushes a thin, circular ribbon of foreskin, and then cuts off the remaining foreskin above the crushed portion. The Gomco clamp reduces the risk of blood loss, controls the amount of foreskin removed, protects the glans of the penis during circumcision, and allows for a clean surgical cut. By simplifying the surgical procedure of circumcision and reducing the risk of complications, the Gomco clamp helped to institutionalize routine, non-therapeutic infantile circumcision as part of the childbirth process in US hospitals.

A genome-wide association study, or GWAS, is a method for identifying variations in DNA that may contribute to the development of a particular trait, such as a disease. A GWAS relies on identifying statistical correlations between many, often thousands of, DNA markers and a particular trait. Scientists employ GWASs to try to identify the genetic contributions to complex traits, such as common human diseases. Complex traits are ones that scientists suspect are the result of multiple genes and environmental inputs acting together, in contrast to simple, Mendelian disorders that result primarily from the disturbance of a single gene. The genetic variants identified through a GWAS typically account for only a small proportion of the expected genetic contribution to a complex trait, which scientists refer to as the missing heritability problem. Since 2006, scientists have conducted thousands of GWASs aimed at identifying the genetic contributions to complex traits and have identified many thousands of genetic variations that correlate with those traits, although as of 2025, because of the missing heritability problem and other limitations, the concrete contributions of GWASs to medicine have so far been modest.

Aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF, is a chemical foam that fire departments and other organizations worldwide use to fight fires involving flammable liquids. AFFF contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, as such chemicals serve as the backbone structure of the foam. PFAS pose health risks, mainly because they can accumulate in the body over time and can cause numerous health issues, such as hormonal dysfunctions. In the 1960s, the United States Naval Research Laboratory, in collaboration with a private chemical company, developed AFFF to enhance capabilities to fight fires involving jet fuel aboard naval ships. The effectiveness of the foam is mainly due to the structure of PFAS, which allows AFFF to spread quickly over burning fuel, suppressing vapors and cutting off the oxygen necessary for the fire. Since its development in the 1960s, many versions of AFFF have been marketed for firefighting purposes. Despite its effectiveness in suppressing flammable-liquid fires, AFFF poses risks for many groups, including firefighters, pregnant women, and their fetuses.

Polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, is a technique that scientists use to rapidly make millions of copies of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, which is the genetic material found inside every living organism. Kary Mullis, who shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to PCR, developed the idea for its underlying biochemical mechanism in the early 1980s while working at Cetus Corporation, a company in Emeryville, California, that used biology to create tools for medical treatments, including cancer. Over the next several years, Mullis and his Cetus colleagues developed the technology, publishing the first study to reference PCR in the journal Science in 1985. Cetus scientists further enhanced PCR by adding Taq polymerase, an enzyme that helps copy DNA and remains stable at high temperatures. Prior to the development of PCR, researchers used slow, difficult methods to study small amounts of DNA. PCR facilitated the rapid and affordable amplification of DNA, helping with tasks like diagnosing diseases, solving crimes, and testing food and water for bacterial contamination.

Ritalin is a medication that, since the 1950s, doctors in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere have prescribed to treat individuals with a variety of psychiatric symptoms, including depression, fatigue, and difficulties with attention and impulsivity. Chemist Leandro Panizzon first synthesized the drug in 1944 under the scientific name methylphenidate while working at the pharmaceutical company CIBA in Basel, Switzerland. CIBA patented the drug in 1950 and marketed it as Ritalin. The US Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, approved Ritalin for use in children in 1961 and by the 1970s doctors were prescribing the drug to children who had received a medical diagnosis of hyperactivity. The American Psychiatric Association, or APA, replaced the diagnosis of hyperactivity with attention-deficit disorder, or ADD, in 1980, and with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, in 1987. Over that time, and since, Ritalin has remained a first-choice drug for physicians treating hyperactivity and attention deficits in both adults and children, while also generating discussion and debate about potential overuse, especially in children.