THE FUSE

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has announced it is probing the mysterious circumstances surrounding the deaths or disappearances of 10 U.S. nuclear or aerospace research scientists in recent years. Republican Congressman James Comer has further fueled speculation by saying, “there’s a high possibility that something sinister is taking place,” as it is hard to imagine it’s a coincidence with so many people involved. To many people, such a cluster may feel too unlikely to be a coincidence. But this reaction may tell us more about human psychology than the cases themselves. The evidence tells a different story that is rooted in how our brains process information after we have been primed to see danger.