Contributor

Kristin Houser

Staff Writer

Contact

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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.

Disaster Response

New study into how tornadoes form could save lives

To improve our understanding of how tornadoes form, researchers involved in the TORUS Project will send tech straight into supercell thunderstorms.

Kristin Houser

Climate Crisis

Changing flight altitudes could help minimize contrails

A study found that flying a small percentage of planes at slightly different altitudes could significantly decrease contrails, a global warming contributor.

Kristin Houser

Surgery

This adjustable heart valve would grow as a child ages

A new, prototype artificial heart valve can adjust to a child’s growing body, potentially sparing them from multiple open-heart surgeries before adulthood.

Kristin Houser

Drugs

Safe injection sites are legal, US court rules

A U.S. judge has ruled that safe injection sites, places where users can consume drugs under medical supervision, don’t violate federal drug laws.

Kristin Houser

Medicine

“Electronic nose” can detect a cancer precursor on patients’ breath

A new study found that an electronic nose could be an improved screening tool for Barrett’s esophagus, a precursor to esophageal cancer.

Kristin Houser

Agriculture

"Doomsday" seed vault now contains over 1 million samples

Norway's Svalbard Global Seed Vault, also known as the “Doomsday” Vault, now contains more than one million varieties of seeds from across the globe.

Kristin Houser

Coronavirus

Why aren’t the World Bank’s pandemic bonds helping fight COVID-19?

The World Bank sold pandemic bonds to address global health emergencies, but it has yet to release any of the money to help fight the COVID-19 outbreak.

Kristin Houser

Coronavirus

Data scientists are making it easier to track COVID-19

Teams of computer scientists across the globe are working tirelessly to help track COVID-19 through the use of computer modeling and data dissemination.

Kristin Houser

Music

This algorithm just generated 68 billion unique melodies

Two musicians built an algorithm that could write every melody in the popular music range — and then released the melodies into the public domain.

Kristin Houser

Asteroids

MIT unveils simulation to help stop an asteroid impact

MIT has developed a simulation to determine the most appropriate way to stop an asteroid impact if one of the space rocks is headed toward the Earth.

Kristin Houser