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

A robot could save farmers from being buried alive in grain

The Grain Weevil robot helps farmers manage stored grain, keeping them out of bins where they might lose their lives to grain entrapment.

Kristin Houser

Transportation

Major airlines preorder hundreds of flying taxis

Several major airlines have preordered Vertical Aerospace’s in-development flying taxis, suggesting the industry views eVTOLs as the future of urban mobility.

Kristin Houser

Clean Energy

New kind of nuclear reactor to be built at retiring coal plant

TerraPower, a nuclear power startup founded by Bill Gates, has announced plans to build a new kind of nuclear reactor at a retiring coal plant.

Kristin Houser

Medicine

Two opposite kinds of stroke. One promising treatment.

A new stroke treatment could give doctors a way to help victims sooner, improving their chances of avoiding permanent brain damage.

Kristin Houser

Biology

3D-printed liver tissue may be first step to lab-grown organs

A NASA challenge designed to accelerate tissue engineering has announced two winning teams, both of which used 3D bioprinting to create human liver tissue.

Kristin Houser

Neurodiversity

Flickering screens help kids with reading disabilities

Adding visual white noise to computer screens appears to help children with reading disabilities read and recall words written on them.

Kristin Houser

Neuroscience

Neck-zapping device helps sleep-deprived soldiers think

A handheld device that delivers vagus nerve stimulation was shown to combat the effect of sleep deprivation in soldiers.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

Ion propulsion will power new space station

China's new space station will get a boost from an ion propulsion system, making it the first crewed spacecraft to feature the sci-fi-sounding engines.

Kristin Houser

Astronomy

Astronomers find more than 100,000 "stellar nurseries"

The biggest survey of stellar nurseries to date, PHANGS-ALMA, charts more than 100,000 star formation regions across our corner of the universe.

Kristin Houser

Blockchain

Volcanoes to power bitcoin mining in El Salvador

Now that bitcoin is legal tender in El Salvador, the nation is working to power bitcoin mining facilities with geothermal energy harnessed from volcanoes.

Kristin Houser