Contributor

Kristin Houser

Staff Writer

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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.

Agriculture

Kenya’s GM cassava plant gets greenlight

Kenya is moving forward with developing a cassava plant that’s been genetically modified to resist cassava brown streak disease.

Kristin Houser

Clean Energy

The world’s first sodium-ion battery for EVs has arrived

The world’s biggest battery maker for EVs is now manufacturing a sodium-ion battery that could help end the industry’s dependence on lithium.

Kristin Houser

Virology

Pfizer’s RSV vaccine 100% effective in human challenge trial

An RSV vaccine developed by Pfizer was reportedly 100% effective in a small human challenge trial and caused minimal side effects.

Kristin Houser

Genetics

Permanent hearing loss may be reversible

A new mouse study suggests we may be able to reverse permanent hearing loss in humans by tapping into a latent regenerative ability.

Kristin Houser

Neuroscience

First neuron-level map of a monkey brain revealed

The first neuron-level 3D image of an entire macaque monkey brain could have a major impact on the world of neuroscience.

Kristin Houser

Astronomy

“Star shrapnel” from a supernova explosion is exiting the galaxy

A metallic star is hurtling out of the Milky Way, propelled by a supernova explosion triggered after it ate its partner star as a white dwarf.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

“The Blob,” a strangely intelligent slime mold, is going to space

A strange slime mold that can think despite lacking a brain is heading to the ISS as part of an educational experiment with French schools.

Kristin Houser

Drones

US Airman, missing in action, located by underwater drones

Project Recover has located the remains of an airman declared missing in action during the Vietnam War using a fleet of underwater drones.

Kristin Houser

DeepMind’s virtual playground suggests path to general AI

DeepMind’s virtual playground, XLand, could help create general AI by overcoming the problem of insufficient training data.

Kristin Houser

Robotics

This beach-cleaning robot is a Roomba for sand

An all-electric, beach-cleaning robot called BeBot can sift through sand to extract pieces of debris too small for traditional systems.

Kristin Houser