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DECEMBER 21, 2016 INTRODUCING OUR NEW PARTNERSHIP. If you’ve uttered “2016 must end” at some point over the last 12 months, welcome to the club. As the year winds to a close, we wanted to highlight some of the stories that remind us there was a lot of good that happened, too. We’ve teamed up with our friends at Mic to share some of those shining moments. If you like what you read from Mic, consider adding its daily newsletter to your reading list. You can subscribe below.     Subscribe to Mic     DECEMBER 21, 2016 This woman broke a huge barrier in 2016   Disney's A Wrinkle in Time, directed by Ava DuVernay, has a budget of more than $100 million. Two other women (Kathryn Bigelow with K-19: The Widowmaker and Patty Jenkins with Wonder Woman) have helmed live-action movies with budgets that high. But DuVernay as director is super significant. 2016 wasn't all bad — these 8 powerful political moments prove it   The Paris climate agreement was enforced, sexual assault survivors now have a bill of rights, the peaceful Standing Rock protesters were successful in halting construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline and a whole lot more. The cutest grandmother on Earth has been located   When Ben John went to his grandma's house to do laundry, he decided to surf the internet on her laptop while he was waiting. What he found on the web pageshe had open blew his millennial mind, and then promptly won over the rest of us. The future of tech is here   This year brought some of the biggest technological advancements ever. Remember when you used to have to watch TV to catch live footage? Facebook live completely changed that. And the olden days when you’d drive yourself around? Self-driving cars have arrived. The internet helped an autistic girl replace her beloved shirt—over and over   She’s going to need a bigger closet. Cami, a 10-year-old Utah girl who has autism, has been "fixated" on a a pink flowered shirt for the last 5 years. Mom Deborah Skouson had managed to scrounge up replacements on eBay each time Cami’s shirt became unwearable. When Skouson finally hit a wall, the internet stepped up, big time. This female scientist is helping survivors of rape find justice   Dr. Candice Bridge, the first black woman to teach chemistry at the University of Central Florida, is using a $324,000 grant to pursue alternatives to DNA testing in assault cases, which could help get rapists off the street and bring some peace of mind to victims.     Subscribe to Mic