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.
Fitbit App Redesigned for Fall
Google plans to release a redesigned Fitbit app this fall that reorganizes the interface into three main tabs: "Today," "Coach," and "You." The refreshed app will display daily health statistics, offer motivational and coaching content, and present goal overviews and trends. Google says the update will improve how fitness data is presented and protected, and it appears visually aligned with leaked looks of the upcoming Pixel Watch 2 and possibly the Pixel 8 phones.
China's Moon discovery reveals hidden structures
China's Chang'e-4 lander touched down on the Moon's far side in January 2019. Using instruments including ground-penetrating radar, the mission collected subsurface profiles near its landing site. A team writing in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets reports the top roughly 130 feet (about 40 metres) of the surface is layered—alternating dust, soil and broken rock—and that a buried impact crater lies within those layers.
Footballer stole Munch's Scream painting
In 1994 Pål Enger, a former Norwegian footballer, carried out a high-profile theft of Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream from the National Gallery in Oslo. Enger entered the museum and removed the canvas in a theft that quickly made international headlines. The painting is one of Munch's best-known works, and its disappearance drew intense media and police attention because of its cultural significance and the bold manner in which it was taken.
Humanity Breaks Climate Records
In 2023 many regions experienced unusually severe heat, droughts, floods and storms. The Guardian surveyed 45 climate scientists worldwide who say these extreme events align with long-standing scientific predictions about global warming. However, the impacts are happening faster and more intensely than many models had forecast, in part because the return of El Niño is amplifying heat and weather extremes this year.