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.

a render of Alef Aeronautic's electric flying car soaring above a forest with trees

Transportation

The US just certified its first fully electric flying car

Alef Aeronautics' Armada Model Zero is the first fully electric flying car to secure a certificate of airworthiness from the FAA.

Kristin Houser

a close-up of a colony of Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus

Animals

“Zombie” cells are the key to a tiny sea creature’s full-body regeneration

A tiny sea creature’s regenerative abilities add to the growing evidence that senescent cells aren’t always detrimental.

Kristin Houser

A monkey sitting on a branch in the forest.

Memory

One shot of the klotho protein boosted memory in old monkeys

A single shot of klotho, a protein linked to longevity, improved the working memory of older rhesus macaques.

Kristin Houser

a 3D-model of a Fanzor protein based gene-editing system

CRISPR

First CRISPR-like system discovered in animals

A CRISPR-like gene-editing system found in animals and other complex organisms has been used to edit human cells for the first time.

Kristin Houser

An image of a virus on a pink background, incorporating elements related to meningitis vaccine and the meningitis belt.

Vaccines

New meningitis vaccine is the first to cover new emerging strain

A new meningitis vaccine that protects against five bacterial strains outperformed an existing shot in a phase 3 trial.

Kristin Houser

a girl with depression sitting on the stairs with her backpack.

Mental Health

Newly identified type of depression affects 27% of patients

Stanford University researchers have identified a new, hard-to-treat type of depression characterized by problems with cognition.

Kristin Houser

Medicine

AI-developed drug for deadly lung disease reaches phase 2 trials

AI-driven drug development has led to the launch of phase 2 trials of a drug to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

Kristin Houser

An image of a woman holding a cell phone at the ISS.

Aerospace

NASA now recycles 98% of astronauts’ urine and sweat

A new water recycling system on the ISS can recover a record-breaking 98% of the water used by astronauts.

Kristin Houser

A person using a shopping cart with lights on the handle in a store.

Healthcare

These shopping carts can tell if you have a common heart condition

A UK study found that ECG sensors placed in shopping cart handles can be used to detect atrial fibrillation (AFib).

Kristin Houser

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