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.
Spanish town's streets turn tomato-red
Spain's annual Tomatina festival draws thousands each year to the town of Buñol, where participants playfully pelt one another with overripe tomatoes. This year about 15,000 people, many tourists, threw roughly 120 tonnes of fruit, turning streets and buildings into red pulp. The event lasts about an hour, and people commonly wear goggles and old clothes; there is a small participation fee of about €12 to help manage the crowd.
Diller transformed architecture with innovation
Elizabeth Diller is a leading architect and founding partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, a firm known for projects that blur art, performance, and architecture. Trained at Cooper Union, she moved from visual art into architecture and co-authored the influential book Flesh, which challenged traditional ideas about buildings and spatial experience. Her work—including the High Line, the Blur Building, and The Shed—emphasizes experimentation, collaboration, and attention to how people use public space.
Revive extinct creatures: big debate?
Scientists and conservationists are debating de-extinction, the idea of bringing extinct species back using modern genetic tools. Advances such as PCR, genome sequencing and gene editing have made it technically plausible to reconstruct genomes from preserved DNA. Companies like Colossal Biosciences aim to use these methods to create proxy woolly mammoths by editing Asiatic elephant DNA. Proponents argue such projects could help restore lost ecological functions and biodiversity.
Robots replace talent scouts in music industry crisis
For decades the music industry relied on A&R scouts—talent spotters who traveled to clubs, small venues and local gigs looking for acts with hit potential. In recent years that search has moved online as social media and streaming platforms such as TikTok and Spotify let artists reach large audiences without labels. Record companies now monitor streams, follower growth and viral trends to decide where to invest, changing how new talent is discovered and promoted.