What we know about the missing and dead scientists fueling conspiracy theories
Viral posts link deaths and disappearances to UFO programs and nuclear secrets. Here’s what’s known — and what doesn’t hold up.
Social media users are posting about people who died or disappeared, claiming they are all scientists who knew secrets about nuclear research and unidentified flying objects.
They theorize that what happened to these people, who have died or disappeared since 2021, is concerted and not a coincidence. A viral April 14 X post read, “Can anyone explain what the deal is with all the missing scientists lately? We’ve had like 10 disappearances in the last two years. …What’s the deal? It’s too much to be coincidence. It’s a legitimate anomaly. It’s spooky.”
A former lawmaker is also posting about it.
Related Knowledge Center: Fact-checking and its detractors
Fact-checking has become a familiar tool for political reporters to hold office-holders and candidates accountable. But critics ask if fact-checkers sometimes miss the forest for the trees, and if the practice often struggles with false equivalency the way conventional political coverage does.