Contributor

Kristin Houser

Staff Writer

Contact

[email protected]

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.

Citizen Science

Citizen scientists helped NASA map our cosmic backyard

NASA was able to create a highly detailed 3D map of nearby brown dwarfs thanks to the efforts of 150,000 citizen scientists.

Kristin Houser

Hacking

Interactive map puts Capitol Hill riot videos into context

The developer Patr10tic has used metadata from Parler to create an interactive map linking each of the Capitol Hill riot videos to its exact location.

Kristin Houser

Coronavirus

Vaccines and recovery both provide strong COVID-19 immunity

Natural COVID-19 immunity — the kind coronavirus survivors have — is about as robust as the immunity prompted by vaccines.

Kristin Houser

CRISPR

Base editing could cure a host of genetic diseases

Base editing has proven useful for correcting disease-causing point mutations in animals — and now, human trials are on the horizon.

Kristin Houser

Drugs

Smart vape pen claims to solve the cannabis dosing problem

To solve the cannabis dosing problem, the MODE smart vape vibrates when a person should stop inhaling and again when they should exhale.

Kristin Houser

Coronavirus

Moderna is developing an mRNA vaccine for HIV

Moderna is using the same technology behind its COVID-19 vaccine to develop an mRNA vaccine for HIV.

Kristin Houser

Robotics

One robot was able to watch another bot and predict its actions

A Columbia University study suggests that empathy between robots may be possible — and the skill could make the bots more useful to humans.

Kristin Houser

Virology

Phage therapy kills superbug behind many ICU infections

Combining a bacteria-killing virus and an antibiotic was able to wipe out an infection of the superbug A. baumannii in mice.

Kristin Houser

Nerve-stimulator helps people walk after MS and strokes

The EvoWalk wearable uses electrical stimulation, sensors, and AI to combat foot drop, a condition commonly linked to MS and strokes.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

This spider-like moon rover will explore lunar lava tubes

A spider-like moon rover heading to the lunar surface in 2021 is designed to explore the underground lava tubes in which astronauts might one day live.

Kristin Houser