As 2013 draws to a close, I want to highlight the year's 10 most important tech and science firsts. The list is in no particular order, because it's impossible to compare breakthroughs that impact wildly different domains. Some of these firsts are awesome intermediary steps towards the realization of an amazing end goal, and some are fully developed technologies that were launched this year and are already changing the world. The one common thread that weaves these 10 stories together is that they're all incredibly significant to the future of technology and science and humankind -- and remember, you read about them first on ExtremeTech.