Contributor

Kristin Houser

Managing Editor

Contact

[email protected]

Kristin Houser is the Managing Editor of Freethink. Her articles on science and technology have been featured in NBC News, RealClearDefense, 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.

Kristin is currently based in Pittsburgh, and prior to joining Freethink, she was a staff writer for Futurism, launched an LA-based music blog, and wrote several animated and live action web series.

a person in blue gloves is manipulating a small organ in a petri dish

Healthcare

Cryogenically frozen organs successfully transplanted into rats for the first time

Thanks to a new "nanowarming" technique, scientists have successfully transplanted cryogenically frozen organs into rats for the first time.

Kristin Houser

Medicine

“Backdoor” into the ear offers new hope for reversing deafness

A new study has unlocked a “backdoor” into the inner ear that could make administering gene therapies to restore hearing less risky.

Kristin Houser

an artist's rendering of a space station with a capsule approaching

NASA’s ChatGPT-like AI will let spaceships talk to astronauts

NASA is developing a ChatGPT-style interface for spacecraft, giving astronauts the ability to talk to the machines using natural language.

Kristin Houser

An image of a brain organoid depicting herpes encephalitis

Virology

A simple tweak could improve treatment of a deadly herpes brain infection

Anti-inflammatory drugs could potentially prevent herpes encephalitis from causing permanent brain damage.

Kristin Houser

a street sign with "Harvard St" on it in front of a brick building

GPT AI will help teach the most popular course in the world

A Harvard professor is developing a GPT-based chatbot to help teach CS50, the most popular online course in the world.

Kristin Houser

a closeup of a person's waist with a thin tube connecting it to a device held in another person's hand

Wearables

There’s now a wearable that can track your stress hormones

A wearable device called U-RHYTHM makes it easy for researchers to see how stress hormones ebb and flow over 24 hours.

Kristin Houser

AI predicts hit songs based on listeners’ heartbeats

A new AI predicts hit songs with 97% accuracy based on how a person’s heart beats while listening to the track.

Kristin Houser

Medicine

One shot epilepsy treatment reduced seizures by 95% in first two patients

A stem cell-based treatment for epilepsy slashed the number of seizures experienced by two trial participants by 95%.

Kristin Houser

a closeup of a hand in a field holding rice that appears damaged

CRISPR

CRISPR’d plant is resistant to the “cancer of rice”

CRISPR’d plants resistant to the devastating fungal disease rice blast could help shore up the world’s food supply.

Kristin Houser

an illustration of a space elevator. Earth is at the bottom, a space station is at the top, and a tether with robots attached spans between the two

Aerospace

Space elevators are inching closer to reality

Tremendous progress has been made developing the materials necessary for a space elevator — but our need for one could soon disappear.

Kristin Houser