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.
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.
Ocean Materials from Outside Solar System
Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb says researchers recovered small metallic spheres from the Pacific Ocean in June and that the material came from outside our solar system. Loeb connects the spheres to an object that reportedly struck Earth in 2014 and argues their composition and structure are unusual enough to suggest an extraterrestrial, possibly technological, origin. The claim is presented as a potential example of interstellar material reaching Earth.
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.
India launching Sun-bound spacecraft.
India’s space agency ISRO plans to launch Aditya-L1, a satellite designed to observe the Sun, on 2 September. The spacecraft will travel to the Sun–Earth Lagrange Point 1, about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, where it can keep the Sun continuously in view. The mission follows India’s successful Chandrayaan-3 Moon landing and represents a major step in the country’s expanding space programme, aimed at improving understanding of solar activity.