Contributor

Kristin Houser

Staff Writer

Contact

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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.

Medicine

“Antivitamins” could be the cure for antibiotic resistance

The B1 antivitamin helps bacteria kill competing bacteria, leading researchers to suspect it could help us fight antibiotic resistance and superbugs.

Kristin Houser

Robotics

Training a home robot to see — and hear

Facebook's AI lab has released new tools for its embodied AI training platform, including one to train a home robot to respond to sounds.

Kristin Houser

Drugs

Scientists want to study your at-home psychedelic mushroom experiences

Scientists are looking for people planning to trip on psychedelic mushrooms for a new study focused on people’s “real-world” experiences with psilocybin.

Kristin Houser

Biology

Fecal transplant cures man whose gut made him drunk

A fecal transplant cured a man of auto-brewery syndrome, a rare condition in which the gut converts carbs into alcohol, making a person feel drunk.

Kristin Houser

Biology

Scientists grow mini human hearts from stem cells

Mini human hearts grown from stem cells, also known as "heart organoids," could help doctors address the most common kind of birth defect in humans.

Kristin Houser

Biology

Study may explain why cancer gets more aggressive as we age

A molecule in the blood of older people promotes the spread of cancer, which could explain the link between age and metastatic cancer.

Kristin Houser

Using smartphone cameras to detect diabetes

A new algorithm can detect diabetes using data collected by a smartphone’s camera, offering a way to address the problem of undiagnosed diabetes.

Kristin Houser

Transportation

Smart traffic lights ease congestion on city streets

Smart traffic lights by startup NoTraffic use AI to improve the flow of traffic in cities, minimizing carbon emissions and delays for first responders.

Kristin Houser

Bionics

The material that could help humans become cyborgs

Coating implantable electronics in the polymer PEDOT can extend their life, which could make cyborgs more common in the future.

Kristin Houser

Coronavirus

Open-source COVID-19 saliva test could be a game changer

SalivaDirect, a COVID-19 saliva test funded by the NBA and NBA players’ union, could be the cheap, accurate testing method the U.S. desperately needs.

Kristin Houser