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.

Mercedes-benz c-class electric car at sunset.

Automation

Mercedes-Benz adds special blue lights when its self-driving cars are “on”

Mercedes-Benz has added turquoise lights to its self-driving vehicles to indicate when its autonomous driving system is engaged.

Kristin Houser

a collage of nuclear reactors and computer code

Clean Energy

Microsoft is training an AI to help get nuclear reactors approved

Microsoft is training an AI to generate the paperwork needed to get next-gen nuclear reactors approved by regulators.

Kristin Houser

Vaccines

Moderna’s mRNA cancer vaccine works even better than thought

Adding Moderna’s mRNA cancer vaccine to a standard melanoma treatment dramatically reduces the risk of death or recurrence.

Kristin Houser

A collage of a hand and various health-related items, including pills, vials, and petri dishes, to represent clinical trials

Medicine

The 5 most exciting clinical trial results of 2023

In 2023, several potentially game-changing meds, including ones to treat pain and high cholesterol, showed huge promise in human trials.

Kristin Houser

A gif suggesting the translation of Hokkien audio into English

Watch amazing Meta AI translate language in near real-time

Meta has unveiled Seamless, a language translation AI that can quickly translate speech while preserving the original tone and emotion.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

T-Minus: Counting down the 10 greatest space stories of 2023

Freethink's countdown of the biggest space news of 2023, featuring major rocket launches, groundbreaking astronomy discoveries, and more.

Kristin Houser

A picture of a stuffed animal and a picture of a girl singing.

The AI behind ChatGPT is bringing this toy to life

Pop artist Grimes and Silicon Valley startup Curio have created an AI toy that can understand and talk to kids.

Kristin Houser

a close up of a human hand about 8 weeks into development

Biology

Stunning video reveals how our fingers form in the womb

A first-of-its-kind map of human limb development could help prevent a common type of birth defect in the future.

Kristin Houser

a woman getting a mammogram while another one performs the screening

Cancer

Walmart now has mammograms, analyzed with AI

Shoppers can now get mammograms at a Walmart in Delaware — and more of the walk-in clinics are set to open in 2024.

Kristin Houser

collage featuring orchids, a fetus in a womb, and genome readings

Fertility

Startup can now screen IVF embryos for 1000+ diseases

Startup Orchid now offers whole genome sequencing for embryos used during IVF — but not everyone is convinced it’s worth the cost.

Kristin Houser