This was a week when a lot of of us in the U.S. paused to reflect and give thanks. We’re keeping the custom alive on the GeekWire Podcast. On this distinctive holiday break episode, we offer you our gratitude for some of the systems, developments and hopeful developments of the past year, as mirrored in news protection on GeekWire.

Listen under, and subscribe to GeekWire in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen. Continue on examining for a rundown of our picks.

mRNA vaccines: Right here we have science, know-how, innovation and a spirit of cooperation aiding to address a single of the most difficult conditions on the planet. COVID-19 vaccines are a no-brainer to best this record.

Environmental awakening: 2021 has been a watershed second for investors, startups, and the basic business populace waking up to climate modify in a a great deal greater way. Some of the examples we focus on:

Electric powered motor vehicles and high-pace rail: The proliferation of electrical motor vehicles on the street, and lengthy-phrase setting up for higher-pace rail in the Cascadia Corridor has us hopeful about the foreseeable future of alternate forms of transportation.

Cloud storage: It is not a new growth, of study course, but the ease of storing, syncing and backing up data in the cloud is one particular of individuals developments that turn out to be an integral component of existence just about without having us noticing. Some thing as seemingly mundane as Microsoft OneDrive has created switching between PCs seamless, for case in point.

Every day AR: In significantly the very same way, the minimal touches of augmented fact in the entire world all-around us have designed life much easier. An example: the pointers in the backup digicam on automobiles that make reversing into a space that a great deal a lot easier.

The up coming era of innovators: Illustrations abound, as evidenced by our Junior Geek of the Month collection. However, the instance that stands out from the past year is Seattle teenager entrepreneurs Sage Khanuja and Nikolas Ioannou constructing and marketing their telemedicine startup in…