3 Questions. 3 Hints. 3 Answers. Every Tuesday.
1. What first-in-kind procedure was recently approved by the FDA to help determine intellectual disabilities in infants?
Hint:
Answer: the identification of variations in particular chromosomes via a simple blood test will help predict certain mental disabilities in young children. According to Dr. Annemarie Stroustrup, an assistant professor of pediatrics at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital, “when there’s something about the child that strikes us as unusual or pointing to a potential genetic disease, that’s when we would use this testing. This is not a screening test to be done on all newborns to predict how they are going to do in school when they are 5.” Read more here.
2. We are already using an abundance of valuable water (especially in the Southwest) to water our lawns and plants – why would we want to spray it up at the sky?
Hint: 
Answer: A former U.S. EPA scientist thinks he has come up with a way to reduce air pollution – with the installation of rooftop sprinkler systems. With all the materials required already available, the “natural” scheme is practical from both an economic and efficiency standpoint. The method is specifically outlined in the journal Environmental Chemistry Letters with additional press details available here. Nonetheless, one wonders what the various health repercussions might be when what goes up “naturally” comes down.
3. This potentially verges on the creepy… but what is one of the latest 3-D products to hit the market?
Hint:
Answer: yes indeed. With the availability of a “fetus doll” some parents may wish to upgrade from the soon to be outdated 4-D ultrasound photo. The 3-D fetus doesn’t even have to be your own, it can be… someone else’s. Celebrity babies are apparently up for grabs as well. Read more here.