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.

a close up of a pill with a spiral of wire around it

Biology

New electronic pill zaps the stomach to regulate hunger

MIT’s new electronic pill stimulates stomach cells to regulate hunger — showing it's possible to hack the powerful gut-brain axis.

Kristin Houser

a flat, clear piece of rubber in a spiral shape with thin wires running through it

Brain

This soft brain implant unfurls its arms under the skull

A soft brain implant that unfurls under the skull could make implantation surgeries less costly and risky.

Kristin Houser

a rendering of a nerve cell in neon green

Genetics

Man’s mutated gene appears to delay onset of Alzheimer’s

The discovery of a second person naturally resistant to a genetic form of Alzheimer’s could lead to treatments for the disease.

Kristin Houser

a rendering of Vast's commercial space station in orbit

Aerospace

SpaceX to launch first commercial space station in 2025

The world’s first commercial space station could reach orbit as soon as 2025 as part of a deal between SpaceX and space startup Vast.

Kristin Houser

Medicine

Personalized mRNA vaccine preps the body to battle deadly cancer

A new pancreatic cancer vaccine based on mRNA tech was shown to be safe and capable of triggering an immune response in a small trial.

Kristin Houser

CRISPR

CRISPR sausage gets FDA green light for consumption

The FDA has given Washington State University researchers the green light to feed five gene-edited pigs to people.

Kristin Houser

the exterior of a Wendy's restaurant at night

Wendy’s has a chatbot taking drive-thru orders

A Google-trained chatbot has begun taking orders at a Wendy’s drive-thru, and if a pilot test goes well, the AI could be rolled out widely.

Kristin Houser

a microscopic image of a retina. It looks like an orange circle, with red blood vessels

Medicine

New gene therapy could reverse a common cause of blindness

A new study suggests we may be able to convert dormant eye cells into photoreceptors to reverse retinal degeneration.

Kristin Houser

a rendering of a building in a soccer stadium taking up about one-fourth of the pitch

Clean Energy

Westinghouse’s small nuclear reactor could power the future

Westinghouse Electric Company has unveiled a small nuclear reactor based on the same tech as a larger reactor already in operation.

Kristin Houser

a closeup of a tiny LED in the middle of a microchip

Computer Science

MIT breakthrough creates world’s smallest holographic microscope

The world’s smallest holographic microscope foreshadows a future in which smartphones could be used for high-res microscopy.

Kristin Houser