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.

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

Aerospace

NASA probe snaps stunning photos of Ganymede

NASA has shared new photos of Ganymede taken by the Juno probe when it was just 645 miles away from Jupiter’s icy moon.

Kristin Houser

Inventions

Blood test can quickly tell if a targeted cancer therapy works

The ExoSCOPE blood test can determine with 95% accuracy whether a targeted cancer therapy is working within 24 hours of administration.

Kristin Houser

Animals

Bomb detectors record rare pygmy blue whales singing

Underwater microphones used to listen for signs of nuclear bomb testing have captured the singing of a population of rare pygmy blue whales.

Kristin Houser

Transportation

Can a 40-seat drone bus get off the ground?

Startup Kelekona is developing an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle capable of carrying 40 passengers at once.

Kristin Houser