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MIT Grieves Shooting Death of Renowned Director of Plasma Science Center (theguardian.com) 64

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) community is grieving after the "shocking" shooting death of the director of its plasma science and fusion center, according to officials. Nuno FG Loureiro, 47, had been shot multiple times at his home in the affluent Boston suburb of Brookline on Monday night when police said they received a call to investigate. Emergency responders brought Loureiro to a hospital, and the award-winning scientist was pronounced dead there Tuesday morning, the Norfolk county district attorney's office said in a statement.

The Boston Globe reported speaking with a neighbor of Loureiro who heard gunshots, found the academic lying on his back in the foyer of their building and then called for help alongside the victim's wife. The statement from the Norfolk district attorney's office said an investigation into Loureiro's slaying remained ongoing later Tuesday. But the agency did not immediately release any details about a possible suspect or motive in the killing, which gained widespread attention across academic circles, the US and in Loureiro's native Portugal.

Portugal's minster of foreign affairs announced Loureiro's death in a public hearing Tuesday, as CNN reported. Separately, MIT president Sally Kornbluth issued a university-wide letter expressing "great sadness" over the death of Loureiro, whose survivors include his wife. "This shocking loss for our community comes in a period of disturbing violence in many other places," said Kornbluth's letter, released after a weekend marred by deadly mass shootings at Brown University in Rhode Island -- about 50 miles away from MIT -- as well as on Australia's Bondi Beach. The letter concluded by providing a list of mental health resources, saying: "It's entirely natural to feel the need for comfort and support."

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MIT Grieves Shooting Death of Renowned Director of Plasma Science Center

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  • by yanestra ( 526590 ) on Thursday December 18, 2025 @02:00AM (#65865941) Journal
    The stable genius jr. has concluded that fusion technology is pointless anyway. Coal and oil are the future! Soon also on Mars.
    • by Jeremi ( 14640 )

      The stable genius jr. has concluded that fusion technology is pointless anyway. Coal and oil are the future!

      That's your tell that fusion has a promising future. Some people aren't like a stopped clock (broken but occasionally correct by sheer coincidence), so much as like a compass whose needle has been magnetized backwards and always points south (always precisely the opposite of correct, and therefore informative if you know to negate their indication).

    • Eh? Trump is after solar and wind, not hot fusion. He might have pulled some funding here and there but nobody's trying to actively halt fusion research in the MAGA camp.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by sinij ( 911942 )
      Why make stuff up and why make everything about politics? Maybe it is time to log out of Bluesky?
      • by Anonymous Coward

        Why make everything about politics?

        MAGA stokes the hatred for foreigners. It is one of the main talking points.

    • by necro81 ( 917438 )

      The stable genius jr. has concluded that fusion technology is pointless anyway. Coal and oil are the future! Soon also on Mars.

      Trump Media to acquire fusion startup TAE for $6Billion [reuters.com]

      Oh really?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by DesScorp ( 410532 )

      The stable genius jr. has concluded that fusion technology is pointless anyway. Coal and oil are the future! Soon also on Mars.

      Oh FFS. Trump is the most pro-nuclear president in four decades, including supporting fusion research and exploring new reactor designs: Trump Bets Big on Nuclear [yahoo.com]

      "United States President Donald Trump is putting his money where his mouth is as he doubles down on efforts to accelerate the expansion of the country’s nuclear energy sector. The government will spend billions in public funding to reinvigorate U.S. nuclear power, following decades of underinvestment. Unlike renewable energy, Trump views nucl

  • by greytree ( 7124971 ) on Thursday December 18, 2025 @05:46AM (#65866097)
    Thoughts and prayers that one day the US gets politicians brave and principled enough to get rid of the fucking guns.
    • But how would that help Rob Reiner?

      • Only turning psychology from a dangerous pseudoscience to a proper science, based on progress through reproduced experiments, will enable us to properly detain and/or treat mentally ill people, and thereby prevent that sort of murder, and many others.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Thoughts and prayers that one day the US gets politicians brave and principled enough to get rid of the fucking guns.

      The US decided that it wasn't going to be smart or sensible after they defended Sandy Hook by supporting the likes of Alex Jones and Charlie Kirk (who ironically said we have to accept a number of shooting deaths). I have to wonder how bad things will get before people finally wake up. I suspect a lot worse.

      This kind of thing isn't something you hear of in other parts of the world, even parts with relatively lax gun laws. I've not seen the headline "CERN scientist shot in his home" and that's in the midd

      • Do you think Shinzo Abe thought like you?

        "Abe was delivering a campaign speech for a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) candidate when he was fatally shot by 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami with an improvised firearm."

      • "Alex Jones and Charlie Kirk..."

        It's not that Alex Jones was 'cancelled', he was sued, lost, and had a $1.4 Billion judgement levied against him. With 'support' like that I would rather be left alone.

        Charlie Kirk, as you know, was murdered not because of what he said, but because he was winning the argument, over and over. Those against his arguments, they do not take losing well. They react violently when all other alternatives fail.

        "This kind of thing isn't something you hear of in other parts of the wo

      • "Switzerland in particular, given their high gun ownership"
        "nor Australia and New Zealand which also have relatively high gun ownership rates."

        Simply incorrect:

        USA: 120 civilian firearms per person
        Switzerland: 27
        New Zealand: 26
        Australia : 14

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estimated_number_of_civilian_guns_per_capita_by_country
        • by _merlin ( 160982 )

          Number of guns isn't a great measure. It's skewed by a few people who own a very large number of guns. IIRC in Australia and Sweden, about 30% of adults have access to a licensed firearm, while in the US it's about 40%. Still quite a bit higher in the US, but nowhere near as much as the number of guns suggests.

          • Number of guns is the measure the parent to my comment used.

            Your comment smacks of No True Scotsman.
            • by _merlin ( 160982 )

              No they didn't, they said "gun ownership rate".

              • Exactly.
                Whereas you went on about "access to a licensed firearm".

                Here are the figures for QUOTE "gun ownership rate GUNS/100"

                USA: 120
                Switzerland: 27
                New Zealand: 26
                Australia : 14

                Yes, those are the same as the figures I quoted.

                https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/gun-ownership-by-countr
        • by Anonymous Coward

          That's per 100 people, moron.

    • Esther 3:2-6, vv8-11, 7:4, 8:11.

      The point? Self-defense. A God-given right, recognized, not granted, in the US Constitution. And recognized for all.

      Defense against one crazy person knocking on your door? Admittedly, being caught by surprise is difficult.

      Defense against one crazy family member? No different.

      And, recall, recently we have witnessed a double murder with a knife. It's not guns. It's the riddle of steel.

      Thoughts and prayers for me are that all men (and women) come to know the one true God, and Hi

    • Thoughts and prayers that one day the US gets politicians brave and principled enough to get rid of the fucking guns.

      I see what you really mean: You hope that the citizens of the USA can toss aside their founding papers so that the populous is entirely undefended except by the police who like to kill citizens. "Citizens! Fellow Countrymen! Lend me your ears: You must completely surrender to my government in order to live peaceful and happy lives. Do Not Worry! My government only has your BEST interests at heart. We would never lie to you. Trust us!"

      You are an absolute fucking moron sir. I am NOT surrendering to your powe

      • Fuck off you demented cunt.
        • Sounds good to me. Thank you. I still have love in my heart for you, but you are definitely an enemy. I would rather trust my fellow citizens than give all authority to government. I fully support you giving up all control in any country different than the one that I live in... but not in my country. Governments throughout history have been shown to trample all over their citizens for nor really good reason, so yeah, I am not willing to agree to let them do that without resistance.

  • Straight out of a plot from a Bond movie. I like it.

Dealing with the problem of pure staff accumulation, all our researches ... point to an average increase of 5.75% per year. -- C.N. Parkinson

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