Build a conspiracy theory from scratch.
The best way to learn to spot a conspiracy theory is to make one yourself.
Pick a real news story. On the next step you'll choose who's behind it and why. Then walk through the four moves real conspiracists use, with a debunk on every step.
- Hunt anomalies — turn coincidence into evidence of a secret plot.
- Fabricate connections — draw lines between unrelated dots until they look meaningful.
- Dismiss counter-evidence — if a fact disagrees, make the fact part of the cover-up.
- Discredit the critics — dismiss people who point out flaws in your theory.
Pick the event.
Choose whichever real-feeling headline your imagination will run wildest with. Don't overthink it.
Exercise Prevents Heart Rhythm Disorder
Researchers studying more than 15,000 people report that higher physical fitness is linked to a lower chance of developing atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat that raises the risk of stroke fivefold. The study, presented at the ESC Congress 2023, used treadmill exercise tests to estimate fitness in metabolic equivalents (METs) and followed participants over time to see who developed heart rhythm problems or strokes.
Video games aid paralyzed speech
Researchers at Speech Graphics, UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley report a brain–computer interface that helped a woman who lost speech after a stroke communicate again. Tiny electrodes were placed on the surface of her brain to record neural activity while she attempted to speak. That recorded activity was decoded into written text, a synthetic voice and real-time facial animation using software originally developed for video-game characters such as those in The Last of Us Part II and Hogwarts Legacy.
Laughter benefits heart health significantly
Researchers presented new findings at the European Society of Cardiology meeting showing that laughter therapy can improve some measures of heart health in people with coronary artery disease. In the study, patients took part in guided laughter sessions while researchers measured inflammation markers and cardiovascular performance before and after. The reported results included lower inflammation and improved indicators of heart function after the laughter interventions.
US campus unearths 142-year-old observatory
Workers installing hammock poles on Michigan State University's campus in August 2023 unexpectedly unearthed the buried stone foundation of an old observatory. Built in 1881 and demolished in the 1920s, the small structure had been covered over for decades. Archaeologists and university staff identified the masonry as part of that 19th-century building, making it a notable historical find on a modern college lawn.