Scott announces the results of the 2025 ACX Grants round, awarding $1.5 million to 42 projects out of 654 applications, covering areas from genetic engineering and disease prevention to AI safety and educational reform. Longer summary

Scott Alexander announces the results of the 2025 ACX Grants program, which received 654 applications and funded 42 projects across diverse areas including global health, AI safety, metascience, animal welfare, and development economics. The grants range from $5,000 to $150,000 and support initiatives like genetically engineered nutritious corn, screwworm eradication, lead-acid battery recycling programs, organ donation improvement, AI bias research, and various biosecurity and pandemic prevention projects. Scott thanks the funders, Manifund team, and numerous expert evaluators who helped assess applications, and notes that some projects remain in stealth mode. The post concludes with extensive credits to contributors and mentions that the next grants round will likely occur in late 2026 or early 2027. Shorter summary

A detailed investigation of the Sun Miracle of Fatima in 1917, where 70,000 people witnessed the sun appear to spin, change colors, and fall to earth, analyzing witness testimonies, skeptical explanations, and similar phenomena at other Marian apparition sites. Longer summary

Scott conducts an extensive investigation into the 1917 Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, where tens of thousands witnessed what appeared to be the sun spinning, changing colors, and falling to earth. He examines approximately 60 primary testimonies, evaluates common skeptical explanations (optical phenomena, weather events, mass hallucination), and documents similar sun miracles at other Marian apparition sites worldwide. Scott then critiques Dalleur's theory about distant witnesses and shadow analysis, explores why more people don't see these phenomena normally, and proposes a tentative materialist explanation involving a rare optical illusion modulated by cloud cover and social priming. The post ends by suggesting research directions for those interested in further investigation. Shorter summary