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.

Healthcare

New tech could help prevent 2/3 of hospital-acquired infections

A new treatment could prevent hospital-acquired infections by making it hard for biofilms to form on implanted medical devices.

Kristin Houser

Clean Energy

A massive kite is now generating carbon-free electricity

Airborne wind energy systems put turbines in the sky, where the wind tends to blow faster and more consistently.

Kristin Houser

CRISPR

First CRISPR’d cockroaches open door to other gene-edited insects

It’s now easier for scientists to create gene-edited insects thanks to a new technique called “direct parental CRISPR.”

Kristin Houser

Clean Energy

IKEA will now sell solar panels

Furniture retailer IKEA will begin selling home solar solutions to US customers to encourage sustainable living.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

NASA to help put first Japanese astronaut on the moon

The first non-American to reach the lunar surface will likely do so as part of NASA’s Artemis mission — and could be a Japanese astronaut.

Kristin Houser

Robotics

DeepMind’s pricey robot simulator is now available for free

AI research lab DeepMind, a sister company of Google, has purchased and open-sourced the powerful robot simulator MuJoCo.

Kristin Houser

Astronomy

Telescope “sunglasses” find brightest pulsar outside our galaxy

Australian astronomers have discovered the brightest pulsar ever seen outside the Milky Way by putting “sunglasses” on a telescope.

Kristin Houser

Clean Energy

Algae-powered computer runs for a year on light and water

An algae-powered computer demonstrates a sustainable, reliable way we could power small IoT devices in the future.

Kristin Houser

Transportation

Watch: Medic in jet suit reaches mountain top in 3.5 minutes

A paramedic in a jet suit flew up a mountain in just 3.5 minutes, demonstrating how the tech could shave valuable minutes off response times.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

Perseverance rover kicks off new hunt for life on Mars

NASA’s Perseverance rover has begun its Delta Front Campaign, the part of its mission most likely to produce evidence of past life on Mars.

Kristin Houser