Chinese engineers have managed to create hydrogen gas that is three times hotter than the sun. The team were able to maintain 50 million°C for 102 seconds – a breakthrough that could someday make fusion power a reality. It follows news last week that Germany used 2 megawatts of microwave radiation to heat hydrogen gas to 80 million°C for a quarter of a second. MORE

At least 11 people have died including a ten-day-old baby after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan in the early hours of this morning, causing a 17-storey apartment building to collapse. MORE

The father of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, the Palestinian teen who was kidnapped and burnt alive by Jewish extremists in 2014, has demanded that the Israeli government demolish the family homes of his son’s murderers and remove their Israeli citizenship, following their sentencing on Thursday. MORE

Pope Francis will meet Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in Cuba next week in a historic first meeting between the heads of the two largest Christian churches, the Vatican announced Friday.

The gathering will be the first of its kind since a schism in the 11th Century split Christianity into Western and Eastern branches. MORE

Ben Carson was incensed as the results of Monday night’s Iowa caucuses rolled in, accusing the winner of spreading falsehoods about him at caucus sites. MORE

Today, Paul Ryan gave a fascinating speech at Heritage Action, a tea party-allied organization that has fashioned itself as the guardian of conservative purity. The speech called for unity. “To quote William Wallace in Braveheart,” he said, “we have to unite the clans.” MORE

Technology…A reactor that will reproduce the sun?  How will they contain it?

GREIFSWALD, Germany (AP) — Scientists in Germany flipped the switch Wednesday on an experiment they hope will advance the quest for nuclear fusion, considered a clean and safe form of nuclear power. MORE

Prime real estate, I hope they move to China.

The giant red letters stand 15 feet tall, declaring “Watchtower.”

The illuminated sign, with its alternating time and temperature readings, crests along the skyline just beyond the Brooklyn Bridge, proclaiming the world headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the religious group that is better known for its door-to-door evangelism than for its substantial real estate holdings in Brooklyn. MORE

We have extensively covered the decline in attendance at the general audiences of Francis (click here).  Now we begin to examine, just who shows up to hear Francis blabber on and on?  Before we get to who was in attendance, a few screenshots from Radio Vaticana’s television coverage of Wednesday’s general audience (27 January 2016).  For those who are curious, it was 59 degrees that day. MORE

 Francis wasn’t the only clown performing this day!

The film documents where water used by Valley farmers comes from and the effects water restriction is having on farm production. MORE

Dead Harvest from Gar Tootelian on Vimeo.

Women should be required to register for the draft if all combat jobs are going to be open to them, the top generals of the Marines and Army said Tuesday. MORE

Fordham University recently approved the removal of common restroom signage indicating use for either the male or female sex at one building on the Lincoln Center campus, embracing part of a student-led campaign to make the University more “gender inclusive.”

According to The Fordham Observer, the changes to signs in the Leon Lowenstein building were pushed by The Positive, a student activist group. The restroom signage initiative started during the 2015 spring semester when The Positive reportedly entered into dialogue with Fordham’s administration and student government. MORE

Cancer cells emit a different “odor” than normal breath. The Na-Nose technology developed in Israel “smells” your breath to determine if the disease exists. No-Nose has been proven in numerous international clinical trials to differentiate between different types and classifications of cancer with up to 95 percent accuracy.