A BBC report this week about a project in the Philippines that has brought virtually free light to dark homes in some of that country's poorest neighborhoods brightened our day so much that we went looking to find out more.

It seems that taking a plastic bottle, filling it with clean water and a little bleach and then suspending it from a ceiling through a hole to the sky can bring about the same amount of light into a room as a 50-watt bulb. It's all due to the way the light of the sun refracts.

For the past week, Wired's Danger Room has been following a thread on how the FBI trains its agents on the subject of Islam. It started last week, when the national security blog obtained presentation materials that painted Muslims as a whole with the broad brush of violence and terrorism.

Here's how Wired introduced its first piece:

The notion of "beauty" can mean many different things to artists. For the Brothers Quay — identical-twin filmmakers — it often means dimly lit black and white images of animated dolls, screws, cogs — any manner of inanimate object brought to life. They're so good at it that fellow filmmaker Terry Gilliam called the Quays' Street of Crocodiles one of the best animated films of all time.

A few seconds doesn't seem like much, but scientists say an early detection system that gives the public five, 10, up to 40 seconds of warning before an earthquake could save lives.

The AP reports today that the United States is working on a system that does just that:

After years of lagging behind Japan, Mexico and other quake-prone countries, the U.S. government has been quietly testing an earthquake early warning system in California since February. ...

The prospect of a United Nations vote on Palestinian statehood did not escape the notice of the Republican contenders for president as Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday hurled himself into the debate over Middle East policy with a public address on the subject in New York City.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon officially terminated "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." More than 14,000 troops were discharged under the law that banned gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. The repeal interrupted the discharge of Lt. Colonel Victor Fehrenbach. He speaks with host Michel Martin.

On Tuesday, Georgia's pardons board rejected a last-ditch plea for the clemency of Troy Davis, who is to be executed Wednesday for killing a police officer. Davis claims innocence. No physical evidence links him to the murder. His supporters, including legal professionals, say the case is rife with doubt.

The Cherokee Nation recently stripped citizenship from a majority of African-Americans who descended from slaves of wealthy Cherokee Indians before the Civil War. Host Michel Martin discusses this controversial move with MacArthur Fellow Tiya Miles, who studies interrelated histories of African-Americans and Native Americans.

The word is spreading about the $2 million — in cash — paid recently for a double-wide mobile home in Malibu, Calif.

A new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind paints an unflattering picture of rivalries and dysfunction within President Obama's first economic team — rivalries that Suskind says then slowed the administration's response to the financial crisis.