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At least 10 people tied to sensitive US research have died or disappeared

cnn.com

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Re: At least 10 people tied to sensitive US research have died or disappeared

#31

Post by wat10000 »

OutOfHere wrote: post #12
Zigurd wrote: post #8

Color me skeptical. Whenever I see this come up in a social media feed it's a UFO influencer. It's leaked out into the legacy news presenters who have great haircuts and no critical thinking skills.

The critical thinking skills you need are that they were connected to nuclear research. UFO is a distraction. The purpose of the investigation is to determine whether the deaths are connected.

The critical thinking skills you need are the understanding that people die sometimes, and the question is how it compares to the normal rate of death among this population.

Re: At least 10 people tied to sensitive US research have died or disappeared

#32

Post by odyssey7 »

jdw64 wrote: post #29
OutOfHere wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

First, sorry for the earlier sarcasm. I agree that people in administrative or support roles can still have access to sensitive information and could, in theory, be targets. But that still defines a very large group. If we include anyone with potential access across different institutions, roles, and locations, then it becomes easy to see patterns in what could simply be unrelated cases. The key question is whether t…

I think this is an interesting pattern, but I see your point. The network effects of ~people a degree removed from direct nuclear research~ gets big.

Re: At least 10 people tied to sensitive US research have died or disappeared

#33

Post by delichon »

The NameUs US public database of around 26k longer term active missing person cases adds around 600 new names per month. It doesn't seem odd that a handful over years would share a narrow professional interest.

But that number, 20 disappeared people per day, is gut wrenching. (US murders are at around 40 per day.) Surveillance sucks, but maybe at least it can be leveraged to find patterns when married to NameUs data. On the other hand I can sympathize with someone who just doesn't want to be found.

Re: At least 10 people tied to sensitive US research have died or disappeared

#34

Post by b9apratus »

jdw64 wrote: post #25
OutOfHere wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have a distinct commonality of nuclear research. As such, is the limitation in pattern recognition not yours? If you are overlooking it, you are suppressing it, and are a a part of the conspiracy.

From what I’ve looked up, the range is actually quite broad from astrophysics to aerospace to administrative roles. Here are the individuals mentioned: * Michael David Hicks (JPL, comets/asteroids research) * Frank Maiwald (space research / JPL) * Monica Reza (aerospace engineer, JPL) * Nuno F.G. Loureiro (MIT, nuclear science and fusion) * Carl Grillmair (Caltech astrophysicist) * William Neil McCasland (Air Force,…

[flagged]

Re: At least 10 people tied to sensitive US research have died or disappeared

#36

Post by abcd_f »

zimpenfish wrote: post #14
Mistletoe wrote: post #5

I need to see stats on how many would be expected to die or disappear from natural causes and I’m never seeing that on these stories. Weird things happen all the time to people in any field of work, it’s only concerning if this is rising above the natural noise. The fact that the current administration, which has proven time and time again it is ignorant about statistics and pretty much all things science, is raising…

Via [0], "Well, there are about 2 million researchers in the US. There are about 25 deaths per million people per day in the US, that’s 50 scientists dying each day, or 73,000 scientists over a four year period. Finding 11 that have some vague connection does not seem unusual to me." (there's more detail at the link, obvs.) [0] https://www.stevennovella.com/neurologicablog/whats-with-the...

Show some rigor.

> 25 deaths per million people per day

That's not the same age range as actively practicing researchers.

Re: At least 10 people tied to sensitive US research have died or disappeared

#37

Post by wat10000 »

jasonlotito wrote: post #22
walletdrainer wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s sanewashing.

4 separate government agencies are putting time and effort into something. The headline is accurate. The reporting is accurate. Should CNN not report what the government is doing? Or are you confused and assume that the investigation has returned and finding? Or maybe, we should highlight the things the government is doing. Why do you find what the article is saying sane?

If the weather service starts an investigation into Tuesday’s rain shower, that should be reported. But if that rain shower was completely within the normal range of weather for that location and time of year, that should also be part of the reporting. This article takes everything from the government at face value.

Re: At least 10 people tied to sensitive US research have died or disappeared

#38

Post by dijksterhuis »

shoubidouwah wrote: post #28

Nice writeup on the whole thing basically being hyped politically with actual nothing behind it https://unherd.com/2026/04/behind-the-disappearing-scientist... Also ~10 in a year, modal age of established scientists + collaboration with us gov, the background rate is basically that... Basically a conspiracy theory at that point, and not even a good one.

also related, a bbc article on the impact from the speculation on the families: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyw9rpdl4po

> The speculation, she says, is "denigrating to their memories".

> Other loved ones reached by the BBC called the speculation "terrible" and "disgusting," compounding families' grief - but chose not to speak on the record because they didn't want to give the stories any more airtime.

this shit is harmful to people.

Re: At least 10 people tied to sensitive US research have died or disappeared

#39

Post by b9apratus »

mikeyouse wrote: post #26
baq wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Michael Hastings was on DMT, smoking weed, and having a manic episode. His family was so worried about his erratic behavior that his brother had flown out to try to get him to check into rehab.. His brother met with Michael the day before he died and realized he was going to need more help, so he called his other brother to fly to LA to try to convince Michael to go to rehab or check into an inpatient psych ward. Mic…

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