Contributor

Kristin Houser

Staff Writer

Contact

kristin.houser@freethink.com

Kristin Houser is a staff writer at Freethink, where she covers science and tech. Her written work has appeared in Business Insider, NBC News, and the World Economic Forum’s Agenda, among other publications, and Stephen Colbert once talked about a piece on The Late Show, to her delight.

Prior to joining Freethink, Kristin was a staff writer for Futurism and wrote several animated and live action web series.

Clean Energy

These “microreactors” could be the future of nuclear power

Microreactors that can be built and deployed much faster than traditional nuclear power plants could be the future of nuclear energy

Kristin Houser

Robotics

Gas-pumping robot lets you stay in your car when it’s cold out

Autofuel, a gas-pumping robot that can be installed right next to existing gas dispensers, could be the answer to our refueling woes.

Kristin Houser

a collage of beer cans on a colorful background

Medicine

This $1 pill cuts binge drinking

Naltrexone, a medication that costs less than $1 per dose, helped people cut back on their binge drinking in a small study

Kristin Houser

Transportation

Zoox deploys first-of-their-kind robotaxis in California

Amazon subsidiary Zoox hits a new milestone, transporting passengers in its driverless robotaxis on open public roads.

Kristin Houser

Climate Crisis

Startup plants first GMO trees designed for carbon removal

Living Carbon is ready to begin planting thousands of GMO trees engineered to pull 27% more carbon from the air.

Kristin Houser

a section of a mouse kidney viewed under a microscope

Biology

Experiment regenerates a damaged kidney for the first time ever

A new treatment that caused the diseased kidneys of mice to regenerate might one day do the same for people.

Kristin Houser

Medicine

New CAR-T therapy shows promise against ovarian tumors

A CAR T-cell therapy that’s effective in mice with ovarian cancer may bring us closer to using the blood cancer treatment against tumors.

Kristin Houser

an illustration of an astronaut on the moon holding lunar dust

Climate Crisis

A shield of lunar dust could cool the Earth, says Harvard scientists

New research out of Harvard shows how we could potentially cool the Earth by creating a massive sun shield out of moon dust.

Kristin Houser

an illustration of a spherical nucleic acid

Medicine

Scientists have discovered how to make almost any vaccine more potent

An approach called “rational vaccinology” could allow us to design more powerful vaccines, just by rearranging their ingredients.

Kristin Houser

a man standing in front of the Bing and Edge logos

Microsoft adds “AI copilot” to Edge web browser

Microsoft is incorporating the tech behind ChatGPT into its Edge web browser, giving users an "AI copilot" to assist them on the internet.

Kristin Houser