3 Questions. 3 Hints. 3 Answers. Every Tuesday.
1. With the click of this button, all your wishes will come true — or some, at least…
Hint:
Answer: Oh Jeff Bezos, you’ve done it again! Amazon has unveiled a handy little device that allows us to order a bunch of things (266 at this time) from Amazon without (once it’s set up) having to go to the website. Need stuff? Just click the Dash Button and voila, at your doorstep. A complete list of qualifying products is available on the website under “Dash Button Products.” Ingenious. Read more here.
2. In what case might asbestos be fully or partially absolved in the development of mesothelioma?
Hint:
Answer: a St. Louis judge recently ordered a blood test to determine whether a plaintiff’s genetic makeup is such that he could have developed mesothelioma regardless of asbestos exposure. The hypothesis “that a gene mutation alone can cause mesothelioma” is still being debated among experts. It will be interesting to see, if the plaintiff has the BAP1 mutation, whether it will be be deemed contributory to, or the effective cause of, the disease. Read the details here.
3. What in-the-works technology gives new meaning to going back in time…
Hint:
Answer: beginning in Old Palestine and Boston, the development of a new mobile app called Pivot will give users to view images of locations as if looking through a history book. The “system will let you alternate between real-time and archived images of a place with a swipe of your touchscreen.” A handy application for history aficionados. One drawback appears to be that the historical images will be limited to available archived images, so no going back to 580AD… though perhaps the technology will eventually be perfected to do just that. Read more here.