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.

a collage featuring cells under a microscope and a close up of wrinkles on a person's face

Aging

One-and-done anti-aging treatment “rejuvenates” old mice

CAR-T cells that have been modified to target senescent cells could be a one-and-done anti-aging treatment.

Kristin Houser

A woman in a blue dress standing next to a bed with a mosquito net. A child is on the bed.

Vaccines

World’s first malaria vaccination campaign launches in Cameroon

Cameroon has launched the world’s first malaria vaccine program — a huge milestone on the path to a malaria-free future.

Kristin Houser

a collage featuring a satellite for space-based solar power and the sun

Clean Energy

NASA lays out the path to space-based solar power

A NASA study found that space-based solar power is likely far too expensive, but it also details what would need to happen to make it work.

Kristin Houser

An AI-generated image featuring a barcode pattern in black and yellow on a solid black background.

New AI detection tool measures how “surprising” word choices are

A new AI detection tool that measure how "surprising" text is reportedly delivers far fewer false positives than existing options.

Kristin Houser

Cancer

Drinking this foam could boost an experimental cancer therapy

A drinkable foam packed with carbon monoxide molecules appears to boost the cancer-killing effects of autophagy inhibitors.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

T-Minus: NASA cracks asteroid capsule, Japan joins exclusive moon club, and more

Freethink's weekly countdown of the biggest space news, featuring Japan's moon landing, NASA's asteroid sample, and more.

Kristin Houser

An image of a child having their ear examined

Medicine

Deaf boy hears within days of receiving new gene therapy

A gene therapy designed to treat a rare form of genetic deafness has restored hearing in the first patient to receive it.

Kristin Houser

an image of the laser weapon firing a red beam at an object in the sky

Military

UK’s “DragonFire” laser weapon downs its first drones

The UK’s high-powered DragonFire laser weapon just shot down its first drones — bringing it one step closer to the battlefield.

Kristin Houser

DeepMind’s AI could accelerate drug discovery

A new study suggests that AlphaFold, DeepMind’s AI tool for predicting protein structures, could be useful for drug discovery after all.

Kristin Houser

A collage featuring a pig's face and a human liver

Medicine

Pig liver filters blood outside a person’s body for 72 hours

A gene-edited pig liver that filtered the blood of a person who was brain dead for 72 hours could one day help people with liver failure.

Kristin Houser