The 2025 MacArthur Fellows (the genius grant recipients)

 

For the end of November, I thought I'd perform a public service and post the link to the official website listing the 2025 MacArthur Fellows.  The MacArthur fellowship awards are the so-called "genius grants".

2025 MacArthur Fellows

(In a year, this link may list the 2026 fellows, because the link doesn't specify the year.)

I don't know any of them personally -- not that I expected to -- but one of them is at Johns Hopkins U in Baltimore. 

William Tarpeh's work is particularly useful, in my view.

"Nitrogen-, sulfur-, and phosphorus-containing compounds are ubiquitous in municipal, agricultural, and industrial wastewater. In wastewater, these elements are harmful to the environment and human health, but they are also the basis of essential chemical products including fertilizer and household cleaners. Conventional methods of ammonia stripping, which removes nitrogen from wastewater, require significant energy and chemical inputs. Tarpeh has developed electrochemical-based processes to isolate nitrogen from wastewater using electricity and ion-selective membranes. His electrochemical reactors convert nitrogen in urine waste streams into ammonia-based products, and they can be tuned to produce ammonium sulfate, which is used in fertilizer, or ammonium hydroxide, which is used in household cleaners and industrial chemical production. Unrefined and mixed-source waste streams present additional challenges for resource recovery. The relatively low concentration of nitrogen amidst many other impurities makes it more difficult to efficiently extract and convert it. Tarpeh and colleagues have demonstrated an electrocatalyst-in-a-box (ECaB) that recovers ammonia directly from municipal wastewater. The two-stage reactor assembly first separates nitrogen compounds from wastewater. Electrocatalysis applied in a separate reactor compartment converts the concentrated nitrogen into ammonium sulfate. This technology offers the potential for a closed-loop system that allows local sanitation systems to manufacture needed chemicals. Tarpeh is also developing other technologies, like ligand-exchange adsorbents (materials that bind molecules to their surface) and polymer membranes, to recover resources with industrial applications, such as lithium and phosphorus."

Diagram and citation of a preprint from the Tarpeh Laboratory:

 

Orisa Z. Coombs, Taigyu Joo, Amilton Barbosa Botelho Junior, Divya Chalise, William A. Tarpeh. Prototyping and modelling a photovoltaic-thermal electrochemical stripping system for distributed urine nitrogen recovery. Nature Water. 2025.

Just what we need -- discount weapons of war

 

To reflect on my subject line, one of the things I don't think the world needs is a lower-cost cruise missile.  The only place that I think this might be useful would be for the defense of Ukraine.

Kratos unveils Ragnarök low-cost cruise missile designed for mass production

"The Ragnarök features a carbon-composite fuselage, a wing-folding mechanism for compact storage, and compatibility with multiple carriage options, including internal bays, external pylons, and palletized configurations. The design also aligns with NATO standard 14-inch rack systems."

They only cost $150K each when ordered in packs of 100. 

I also don't think it's a good idea to name these weapons after the name of the battle at the end of the world in Norse mythology.

In the picture below, the Ragnarok missile is under the jet.

Look, up in the sky (on that building), it's superwood!

 

I think this is a pretty important article about a potentially important product, if a) they can speed up the process to make enough of it, and b) they can make it with a feedstock that doesn't cause environmental damage.

Also, the technology was developed in Maryland and it's manufactured in Frederick, so it's a "home state" product.

Scientists create ‘Superwood’ that’s stronger than steel

"The breakthrough came in 2017, when [Liangbing] Hu first strengthened regular wood by chemically treating it to enhance its natural cellulose, making it a better construction material.

The wood was first boiled in a bath of water and selected chemicals, then hot-pressed to collapse it at the cellular level, making it significantly denser. At the end of the weeklong process, the resulting wood had a strength-to-weight ratio “higher than that of most structural metals and alloys,” according to the study published in the journal Nature.

Now, after years of Hu perfecting the process and filing over 140 patents, Superwood has launched commercially".

The actual study (Hu listed himself as the final author, not the first author):

Song, J., Chen, C., Zhu, S. et al. Processing bulk natural wood into a high-performance structural material. Nature 554, 224–228 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature25476

OK, now let's agree not to make any jokes about this.

Vanessa has two

 

Actress/singer/entertainer Vanessa Hudgens and husband/baseball pitcher Cole Tucker have announced they now have a second offspring.

Vanessa Hudgens gives birth! High School Musical star welcomes second child with Cole Tucker

The date of the birth is uncertain; she may have had it a couple of weeks ago.  From her appearance in October, that seems quite possible.

Volcán de Fuego entertains

 

While Hawaii's Kilauea is semi-regularly putting on a show with lava fountains; and there was a big explosion in the Afar of Ethiopia downrange and downwind from Erta Ale; and Mount Semeru went larger than usual with a long pyroclastic flow; meanwhile, volcano (volcán) Fuego in Guatemala continues to put on a commonly spectacular show.

The summit explosion on November 30 (2025) is a good demonstration of its entertainment value.

Lighthouse of the Week, November 23-29, 2025: Race Rock, New York, USA

 

In years past, I have provided picture and text descriptions of several lighthouses on New York's Long Island coast, both near New York City and further away.  This week's lighthouse isn't on the Long Island coast; as the name indicates, it is on it's own little island, Race Rock, which is very close to the town of New London on the Connecticut coast. But the borderline puts it in New York. 

The name of the lighthouse is Race Rock, similar to the Race Rocks lighthouse in British Columbia. So don't add the "s".   This week's lighthouse can be found here.

There's quite a bit of information provided from the Lighthouse Directory below:

"1879 (Francis H. Smith and Thomas A. Scott). Active; focal plane 67 ft (20.5 m); red flash every 10 s. 45 ft (14 m) octagonal cylindrical granite tower with lantern and gallery, rising from one side of a 1-1/2 story granite Gothic revival keeper's house; all mounted on a granite caisson and protected by rip rap; rotating DCB-24 aerobeacon (1979). Lantern painted white, granite unpainted. Fog horn (two 2 s blasts every 30 s). ... This lighthouse is on a difficult and dangerous site; construction took 6 years. In 2005 the lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2009 the lighthouse became available for transfer under NHLPA, and in June 2013 ownership was transferred to the New London (Connecticut) Maritime Society. The Society has a web page for the lighthouse. The Society has made minor repairs, secured the lighthouse, and removed lead paint and bird droppings. In July 2022 the Society launched a drive to raise $2.284 million, the cost engineers estimate for a complete restoration. Located on a reef 3/4 mile (1.2 km) west southwest of Race Point, the western tip of Fisher's Island."

Lighthouse Friends has a page about this one, too.

The New London Maritime Society includes this page.

And now, a few pictures:

All I want for Christmas

 

This lovely young model discovered at SilkSilky.com would sure be a nice present to unwrap under the Christmas tree, in front of a warm fire in the fireplace.

It would be nice to know her name, too.

She's real, as well; no AI involved here.  A bit of a Dakota Johnson flavor to her face, which of course isn't bad.