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.

Surgeons transplanting the gene-edited pig heart into their patient

Surgery

Gene-edited pig heart gives a dying man a second chance at life (Updated)

For the second time ever, a gene-edited pig heart has been transplanted into a person with terminal heart disease.

Kristin Houser

an image of the ChatGPT interface with the text "These clouds are caused by" over an image of clouds

You can now talk to ChatGPT and show it pictures

OpenAI is rolling out new features that let subscribers talk to ChatGPT and show it pictures, enabling more intuitive interactions.

Kristin Houser

A satellite image of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico used for weather predictions.

AIs accurately predicted path of Hurricane Lee a week out

AI-based weather forecasting models developed by Google, Nvidia, and Huawei accurately predicted where Hurricane Lee would make landfall.

Kristin Houser

Asteroids

NASA has retrieved its first asteroid sample

NASA has just retrieved its first asteroid sample, bringing nearly 9 ounces of the asteroid Bennu to Earth.

Kristin Houser

A man lying down with a book opened over his face and earbuds in his ears

AI narrates 5,000 free audiobooks for Project Gutenberg

A new text-to-speech system developed by Microsoft and MIT was used to create nearly 5,000 audiobooks for Project Gutenberg.

Kristin Houser

A robot is learning to mix eggs in a bowl.

Robotics

Why Toyota is building a “kindergarten for robots”

Toyota is using a generative AI-based method to teach robots to peel veggies, prepare snacks, and perform other dexterous tasks.

Kristin Houser

a grid of colorful scans of the brain of a person with MS

Vaccines

New “inverse vaccines” could be key to curing autoimmune disorders

"Inverse vaccines" that teach the immune system to tolerate triggering molecules could be the key to curing autoimmune disorders.

Kristin Houser

A large container for renewable energy storage with a crane attached to it.

Batteries

California utility will try to store renewable energy in iron-flow batteries

A California utility company is testing whether iron-flow batteries could be the answer to the renewable energy storage problem.

Kristin Houser

A person in a protective suit is working on a machine related to Covid-19 vaccines.

Coronavirus

Here’s what’s new in the latest COVID-19 boosters

The FDA has approved new COVID-19 boosters from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. Here’s what you need to know about the shots.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

T-Minus Weekly: Victus Nox, a record-breaking ISS mission, and more

Freethink's weekly countdown of the biggest developments in space, featuring the launch of Victus Nox, a record-breaking mission, and more.

Kristin Houser