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.

Transportation

Pilotless German air taxi flies for first time

Volocopter’s four-seat air taxi — the VoloConnect — has completed its maiden flight and is on track for a 2026 commercial launch.

Kristin Houser

Inventions

Washable smart fabric turns movement into electricity

NTU Singapore researchers have developed a washable, stretchy smart fabric that turns movement into electricity.

Kristin Houser

3D Printing

Virginia launches world’s biggest 3D-printed housing project

Construction company Alquist 3D plans to build 200 3D-printed houses over the next 5 years through Project Virginia.

Kristin Houser

Genetics

Chinese robot clones pigs with no human help

A robot that automates a common technique for animal cloning has been used to produce a litter of pigs in China.

Kristin Houser

Robotics

New harvesting robots are gentle enough to pick this fruit

A pair of harvesting robots are picking raspberries in Portugal, demonstrating the ability of tech to help combat seasonal labor shortages.

Kristin Houser

Medicine

Small trial of cancer immunotherapy sends every patient into remission

Every participant in a small trial testing a rectal cancer immunotherapy has had their disease go into complete remission.

Kristin Houser

Clean Energy

MIT grads demonstrate first ammonia-powered tractor

Amogy, a startup founded by four MIT grads, has transformed a John Deere into the world’s first zero-emission, ammonia-powered tractor.

Kristin Houser

Clean Energy

Massive turbine turns deep ocean currents into electricity

Deep ocean currents could be an economically viable source of clean energy, based on a recently wrapped demo in Japan.

Kristin Houser

Disaster Response

How a volcanic eruption was forecast five months in advance

Researchers correctly forecast a volcanic eruption five months in advance by running a modeling program on a supercomputer.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

US plans to put nuclear-powered spacecraft in orbit by 2026

Nuclear thermal propulsion systems could power missions to Mars, help defense satellites evade attacks, and more.

Kristin Houser